Keys Of Insanity
by Zi-Dawg
Summary: She'll do anything to see him, NO, just to hear him again. She'll travel the world and hide her existence just to practice his profession and feel closer to him. But, which profession does she end up following? Piano? Or Eating?
1. Chapter 1

**_Keys Of Insanity_**

Lowly lights dimmed down over the crowd in the small pub to help in creating the perfect atmosphere for what was coming next. The previous entertainer on stage was a regular in the shady shop for preaching his soul in the form of dark poetry. And his last was no exception. Jeremy lived a very depressing life. Jeremy never had any parents to call his own. Left at the door step of an orphanage in nothing more than a baby carriage and a short note explaining his parent's situation.

Jeremy's physique was anything but athletic. That being said, he was never able to properly defend himself against bullies who felt the need to pick on poor orphan. Black and blue were scattered about his frail body which he often covered up with long sleeves and jeans. His pale face was the only part of his body that was clean of scars.

As Jeremy made his way from the small stage back to his seat in the back, A kind waitress made it her responsibility to praise him on his bravery and tell him that everything would eventually get better with time. That was enough for him even through the silence that was his audience. Not even a single clap, snap or even a whistle. Jeremy always was a loner.

When said waitress laid her hand upon the sad boy's shoulder she felt his misery. The life of torment that he was leading. All the pain and loneliness he's had to deal with. She could see and feel it all. Shivers ran from her neck down her spine as the images flooded in.

That night when baby Jeremy was left at the doorstep of a broken down building. She could hear the cries and whimpering of the single mother that just couldn't do it on her own. The feelings of regret and despair invaded her body and mind and mixed with her own memories of regret.

The man with the enlarged canines and crimson pupils, the features of his strangely crooked yet amazingly cool grin. A face she wouldn't ever let herself forget. The only one she ever trusted. Just the thought of him was enough to break her from the sad boy's subconscious.

Shaking her head, she placed the cup of joe down on the table in front of Jeremy and started a slow march to the stage. With the lights as dark as they were no one was able to see the soulless eyes behind her strong frame. And thanks to the manager using the loud speaker to call her up, no one could hear the sniffling that escaped her.

What was about to go on was nothing short of what she would describe as horrific or nostalgic. It was always hard for her to decide which. The two feelings lingered on a small string in her heart as they sometimes crossed each others borders. There were always two sides to a story, nothing was ever as it was perceived by the naked eye.

Until a third feeling showed up. Admiration? Maybe. She could look in the mirror every day for the rest of her life and tell herself that. But a single glimpse into a still pool of water could tell her that it was much more than that. But she wasn't just lying to herself.

No, she was beyond the sins of a liar. She lived an honest life. Always putting out one hundred and ten percent into everything that stood in her way. From school work to growing up and maturing as a women. She never tried to be someone she knew she wasn't. Not once did she get into a certain genre of music because her peers around her did. She never ate food someone asked her to try even though she didn't like it.

That was the exact kind of life she wanted to live. She knew who she was what she was supposed to do. By age 16 the amount of kids and their names were already written down in a book. She knew what she wanted them to look like as well as how tall they would end up.

She wanted one boy and one girl. The boy being the older and protective one. And even though he would always be her innocent baby boy, she knew that he would play. He would lie but never cheat. As little as he may speak, when he did, everyone would listen.

The girl on the other hand. She couldn't wait for her to grow up and be just like her. Independent and strong. Smart but not naive. Hopefully she wouldn't end up having such a wacky group of friends like her mother, but that couldn't be helped. It would be in her nature to do so. Her glossy white hair would be something all her friends would swoon over and be jealous. But she would always be modest about it and preach about how it was in her genes.

But these children, these hopes and dreams, they were nothing more than that. Unreachable moments lost to the hands of fate. Those two children won't ever meet their parents. They won't make those weird friends or the deep lava gems inherited from their father's side of the family.

They'll be nothing more than a wish never granted. And it was All. Her. Fault.

_~!~_

Friday had come and the weekend was theirs for fun and games. Soul was free of clubs on Friday's and Maka always took that opportunity to make sure they spent quality time with each other. Once the Kishin was rid from existence Meisters and Weapons alike all took a step back to look at their lives and find what they thought was important.

Red eyes and snow white hair were all that mattered to her. As long as they were always staring at her and only her then she didn't care what else was going on in the world. Her conscious was clean and calm knowing she was able to salvage Crona's soul from the madness. He was given a fair trial in front of Death The Kidd accompanied by the current Death Scythes. And in the end, the Demon Swordsman Crona Gorgon was rightfully so deemed innocent. It never was his fault he was the son of a witch.

Maka was glad that she had such close friends in the higher ups. But some of them she had to admit might have gotten themselves into a little more than they could handle over the last couple of years. What with Tsubaki currently baring the child of the strongest Meister at Shibusen. Maka would never question Black*Star's loyalty, he was always very protective of his friends and would never stray from the path his own. But not even he knew what he was getting himself into with having a kid of his own.

Thankfully Tsubaki took it upon herself to live in Japan for the coming months for when the baby would be born. She didn't want her friends to see her at her worst. Kidd understood and gave her and Black*Star paid vacation time off. Her family also wanted to be present for the birth of their first grandchild, so it was better for everyone they were in Japan for the next few months to prepare for their miracle.

That being the case, Maka was prepared for just about anything that included just her and Soul on this night. Be it having dinner and catching a movie or just walking around the city. The riches around Death City had grown immeasurably since the spread of madness was stopped. Soon enough it became enough of a popular area as to where tourists actually started coming by just to come and see the academy.

But they never took the proper time to just stop and look up at the beautiful night sky in the middle of the desert. And on this perfect winter night, that's all Maka really wanted to do. Dinner was quick and the movie passed by quicker than it should have. She attributed that to the fact that she didn't care about either or. Soul and her were an official couple by their standards and that's all she needed to know. It was a healthy relationship built on years of trust, and that's what she was most proud of.

She wanted to treasure every second of these moments. Because in a life like theirs there was no telling when it would all end. And while they walked along the streets the Witch Hunter couldn't help but notice a set of swings covered in snow. There wasn't anything particularly special about these set of swings, but to Maka and Soul it held significance.

"Hey Soul, look over there."

He yawned before turning his head. From what his cell phone was telling him, it was already tomorrow. They'd been walking around the city for two and half hours already.

"Hn? Oh, those old things?"

"Yeah. You remember, don't you?" She leaned her head onto his shoulder and gently closed her eyes, feeling his warmth come over her body.

"Cheh. Remember what? They're just a set of swings." Maka pursed her lips and turned her emerald gems on him.

"Idiot! You know what I mean. Jerk!"

"Ah! Calm down Maka. No need to hit me. It was a joke, alright? A cool guy like me couldn't forget about something like this. Could he?"

She didn't know how he did it, but even when he was being sarcastic he was still the coolest guy in town. Before she knew it, her cheeks were red like a cherry.

"Hmm. Jerk."

"Bookworm."

While they went back and forth insulting one another, they made their ways towards the swings on which they once sat.

"They're pretty, aren't they?"

"Hn?" Soul blinked twice in trance.

"The stars I mean. I never really took the time to just stare at them, but they're actually really pretty." Soul looked up at the sky, but it didn't interest him as much as it did his Meister.

"Hn. Didn't notice. Was lost somewhere else." Her cheeks burned beneath her cold skin. She turned her head, embarrassed of the her reaction.

The distance between them physically became no different but their minds were miles apart from each other now. Silence fell upon the kishin hunting duo under the starry night. Ignoring each other at this point they idly swung back and forth with just enough kinetic energy to stay moving in the air.

_What was I thinking saying that? The stars are pretty? Dammit Maka Albarn you can think of better things to say than that. Come on, I'm smart, I can do better than that. Can't I?_ For just a second, if that, the silver haired wonder finally caught the culprit red eyed, staring right back at her.

She opened her mouth to say something.

"So-"

"Maka." But was just a bit late. Soul was ahead of the game.

"Y-yeah, Soul?"

"You know you saved me right, Maka?"

_What? Where the hell is this coming from? Saved him? What the hell is he talking about?_

"Saved you? When did I do that, Soul? You're the weapon in this relationship. You know that." The Grigori stated proudly with a huff to boot.

"That's right, I'm the Demon Death Scythe. I've eaten over 200 kishin souls and one witch soul." The memories of every soul he'd ever absorbed came rushing back. From the very first to the latest soul 3 days previous. Each one just adding to his cool level and amount of strength he possessed.

"But every Demon needs an Angel, doesn't he?"

And for the first time in her life, Maka Albarn, daughter of Kami and Spirit, felt her heart skip a beat. And for whatever reason, she decided it was a good thing.

Her body shook, she wanted to blame it on the winter breeze blowing up on her skirt beneath her pantyhose, but she'd be only be lying to herself.

Where was Black*Star when you needed him to ruin a moment and completely change the mood. She desperately wanted a distraction. Anything would work.

A fire, a car crash, anything. Maybe her hopeful wishing was just that. Or she was simply not mentally prepared for the inevitable.

She always knew she felt like her and Soul were more than just partners, than friends. They always just clicked that way. Even though they may be polar opposites, like a magnet, they attract.

He always had his ways to make her smile that no other person alive could pull off. Maybe it was that cool aura he continuously let off? Or or, or maybe it was the fact that he was always there for her, highs and lows. He had the chance to be there for her no matter the situation.

Whether it was after a fight with her dad or after an A ranked mission that would take days to accomplish. Soul was always there running the bath after a run through the rain. Those crimson eyes were always there reassuring her and helping her over come her worst fears.

Those fearsome canines always told her what she wanted to hear.

Maybe she shouldn't have wished for something to interrupt this special moment.

**"Kukuku. Gri...gori. De...li...cious. POWER!"**

Maybe she should have just let the universe unfold it's plan like it originally intended.

**"Power...I want...Need...Grigori!"**

Sometimes she should have just kept her mouth shut. Because you never know what might happen when someone you don't know hears you.

You might just get what you wish for.

"SOUL!"

Lord Death forsake her soul for the sin she was about to commit.

_~!~_

The show was over. The lights though already dim, lifted and shone brightly upon the dusted floors. The crowd, silent as night, could be described best with the words scared, or frightened, or better yet, terrified. Terrified of the young maiden who laid her gloved hands upon the keys.

Everyone left in attendance was either too close to the stage or too terrified of what would happen if they had left the small pub. Those red sparks floating in the air put to rest any rumors about the waitress they might have heard.

She was psychotic and down right intimidating. The way she became entranced with her own music was one thing, but that insane laughter that would make even the scariest of foes sound like children was the worst.

What was once heard could not be unheard. Unfortunate but true for the scared few that were left shaking in their seats, attempting to keep their drinks from dripping from their glasses.

Jeremy, who was farthest from the insanity was still able to feel the madness on full blast. His body shook uncontrollably as the sound of indiscriminate note, one after another pounded his ear drums, begging for entrance into his once sane conscious.

His body screamed for denial, but his fragile mind was the doorman that so easily let each deep tone screech through his existence.

His breathing both deep and loud would not go unnoticed, for each unfortunate soul in the room was in the same predicament. Each one barely keeping hold of their sanity with each strand of hair ripped from their scalps.

Footsteps echoed around the silent room. It only became apparent that the song was finished when the head of piano was shut against it's base and closed off for the night.

Everyone suddenly woke up and looked around. The room was a mess. Drinks were spilled all over the floors, pictures were knocked off their nails in the wall, a trail of blood followed the mysterious waitress around the room.

The light show was gone but the faint signs of madness still beckoned to knock at the doors of the weak.

While some were still losing their minds, there were the reasonably strong willed few that had come to their senses. And when they were finally able to form proper words in they found it impossible to properly describe the rollercoaster they were forced to ride.

It was, inspiring. Every note, every sound, powerful on it's own. But as a team, invincible, unbeatable. The way the low and powerful notes meshed so well with the quick and straightforward brass of the body was incredibly eary.

But the way it spiraled out of control towards the middle was sound proof that the story told didn't have a very happy ending. It's slow departure into the depths of madness was evident the moment said pianist kept continuously stopping and starting.

Her technique was just all over the place. It would have made any professional cringe right off the bat. The way she positioned herself at the edge of the bench could only be a testament to how much of a miracle it was that she landed a job in the first place. Everything she did was just awkward. Her ensemble didn't go very well with the disgusting surprisingly bright aura that shone through her slips of insanity. It was like she was masking her own purity for the sake of purposely feeling sad.

To add to the young waitress's tab, the once red blood trailing her had quickly dried up and turned into a horrifying black that sounded like it was still boiling.

A single stray pool of goop jumped up on it's scared the day lights out of one of the regulars, which became the last reason for whomever was left in the crowd to promptly escort themselves from the building. All but one had the strength to leave their seats and run to the hills.

Minutes passed like days while the manager took a look at the damage this time around. These strange occurrences were no longer foreign to his small shop, but he didn't look at it as a negative aspect. In fact he credited his businesses recent growth to it. When rumors spread, curiosity grew.

And talk of the Black Blood pianist could only grow from this point.

"Oi! We picked up a large crowd this time around, didn't we? I think I'm beginning to like this whole scare and intrigue tactic you got going for ya little lady. I think we'll be doing just fine as long as this keeps up."

"Hn." She muffled whilst still cleaning up her mess. It may have been a dirty, but it was in her job description.

From the time her shifts began her responsibilities suddenly grew immensely. Her simple lifestyle of just going through the motions would be thrown into a pot and mixed with ingredients to form an inelegant masterpiece that would have them coming back for more.

"You know you've been awfully quiet these past few days. Wanna talk about it?" She nodded her head. She'd rather talk with her hands than to those unworthy of gaining her full trust, he knew that. But it was worth a try. She's been a quiet one since the first day she walked with blood on her dress looking for a job.

Making her way out of reach of the manager, the silver haired waitress begun to clean the last table left that needed it. Surprisingly though, the person who at one point occupied the table was still sitting in his seat, albeit a couple feet away from his cup of joe.

His body was still in shock from the pounding it took. His defenses were so easily invaded and destroyed to the point where movement was possibly with an aide of a sort.

"Y-y-you. You. You're..you're a...a..."

"Demon? I know." She replied in an annoyed tone. She felt she knew what was coming next. The customer would flee just like the rest of them, screaming for help, but crying for more.

"Wh-what? A demon? No! You-you're an angel."

It was the first time they had spoken directly to each other. They knew each other for a couple of months as customer and employee, but nothing more than a conversation about what to order had ever come up. This was a landmark achievement for both parties involved.

On Jeremy's side, she was the first female he had ever spoken to who didn't run away or laugh at him for being too weird.

For her, the compliment did more than just bring a crooked smirk upon her features.

As a person who lived by the common saying that respect is earned, She was over come with the urge to repay the young dutch-man for his kindness.

Like so many times before she placed her hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Her phone inside her pocket started ringing just as she was getting started, but the previous encounter already gave her enough info.

She began a stride towards the exit with her phone by her ear when she came to a sudden stop just short of the door. She turned her head around and stared at Jeremy with soulless eyes.

"She loved you ya know."

While he was sure he heard correctly, he still couldn't help but ask.

"Wh-what? What do you mean! What does that mean!" He screamed out. She turned her head back around and opened the door to leave.

"Your mother loved you. She wouldn't be happy seeing you like this. Be happy." With those parting words the young man with the fragile body was left with his head spinning about who this waitress really was. And what connections did she have with his mother? Who was she? How did she know anything about him?

He would have to ask her next time. From the other side of the door it sounded a lot like she was arguing with someone over that phone of hers. He over heard something about a tour, and the states or something like that. Whatever that meant.


	2. Chapter 2

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 2**

Blistering cold droplets of water showered over her tough skin. A cold shower was the only way she found that could for at least until the next release, help subside the effects of using the black blood. Her body frail body shook uncontrollably while her body tried to cool itself down. The girl hoped she wouldn't get a headache this time, she still had an appointment to attend to in the next hour.

Slowly but surely her bodied adapted to the cold water as the numbness in her body died down. Just to make sure, she pinched herself until she broke skin. She felt the pain of it all which was a good sign by itself. Blood surfaced and mixed in the air to create a red tint. She let out a sigh and turned off the water. She was able to contain it before she did any real damage this time.

The black blood was always a sort of double edged sword, but for a lost soul like hers, it did nothing but hurt. It not only caused her to go mad with power, but it brought up memories she wished would die out.

_Stupid blood. Stupid curse. Why can't I just hear it already? Why can't I play it yet? Just once. Just one more time and I'll be satisfied._

She dried her hair and let it fall to her shoulders before running her manicured fingers through each strand. She was barely twenty years old, but as in instructor she needed to look the part. Her patented pigtails simply wasn't a mature enough look for a teacher.

If there was one thing she enjoyed about having shutters over her windows leaving an absence of natural sunlight to come inside was that it allowed her the freedom to walk around her one bedroom, one bathroom apartment in her birthday suit when she didn't feel like covering up. It was uncommon, but after using the black blood earlier she felt too fatigued to act like a proper lady.

Needing a quick pick me up, the silver haired beauty filled a bowl with water and spilled whatever beans she could find into the coffee pot. She let that sit while she picked out the appropriate apparel for the lesson. The young girl opened up her closet but was once again faced with the cruel reality of what it truly meant to run away.

There was really only two choices and neither was the matching striped bra, panties and hoodie. She only brought the set as a reminder. It was originally a gift, as ecchi as it may be, it was a special one of a kind set of clothes. The twenty year old instructor quickly grabbed her lightest apparel and shut sliding closet doors.

It was time to put her teacher face on. A light shade of cover up here, some make up there and Mrs. E. was ready to go. Pouring the cup of steaming hot coffee into a mug she was ready to go. She always double checked to make sure every door and window, covered up as they may be, was locked. It was just an odd twist of fate that she ended up living in a not so welcoming neighborhood. It wasn't like she lived in a hostel, but it was close enough. That would hopefully change soon enough. A change of scenery was needed, and the sooner the better.

Her ride through the red light district never was a quiet one. She wouldn't ever deny that her petite figure was a good look for her, and a small part of her liked the attention she drew, but the proper side of her wanted to put her fist into every single man that looked at her with lewd eyes.

Only one more block and she'd be home free. She blocked out every call and holler up until now and she would continue to do so as long as no one directly approached her. But there was something she learned a long time ago that would always come back and bite her in the ass.

No matter how much she ran from it, trouble would always come to her.

The silver haired instructor quickly pressed on the brakes to her bike and turned one hundred and eighty degrees in the opposite direction.

"This smell." She sniffed twice. "Disgusts me."

Mrs. E. threw her bike to the ground and downed the last of her coffee before throwing the mug to the ground.

"Ya know, it's been a while since I've done this. So I might be a little rusty. But don't let that hold you back. I'm sure my soul will taste just as good. But there's still one problem here." She spoke with eyes so angry.

The beast in which said words were directed towards was taking it's time slithering out of the shadows, thinking it was slick. Little could it's tiny power driven mind tell, there's been a target on it's head since it decided to swallow it's first soul.

He looked like a regular old man wearing a beige coat. It stood tall with it's mouth wide open and salivating, licking it's lip.

"Grigori." It screeched. Mrs. E. cracked her neck and hands and drew out into a fighting position with plenty of openings.

"Well that's good. I'll make you work for what you want. So come on. I have a couple minutes to spare."

_~!~_

"Soul? Soul!" He barely parried the swipe at his head, and took a good deal of damage to his shoulder. The claws on this one were long and sharp, much like one's from the 99th soul they collected years ago. That was one they wouldn't soon forget.

"Heh. I-I'm alright. It's just a scratch. Let's do this, Maka." Her green orbs worked their way up and down his body looking for any signs that might hinder his performance. That slice didn't look too strong and like he said, only looked like a bad scratch.

"Alright. Let's go Soul."

_I'm going to rip this bastard to shreds for destroying this swing set._

Soul was bit taken back by her thoughts on the situation. She almost always let her emotions lead her in battle, sometimes more than others, but this was on a whole new level. Through their resonance he could feel the anger flooding over him and taking him along for the ride.

_Ma-Maka. He's no-_

_I know Soul. Normally I would let it slide, you know that. But right now, this thing is going to feel pain._

She closed her eyes and drew out a battle stance with the edge of Soul's blade out in front.

"In the name of Lord Death, please forgive me for the sin I'm about to commit. Yo! You may not be on Shinigami Sama's warrant list, but you're soul is no longer human and therefore you pose a threat to those around you. And I can't let you do anything to the people I care about. " The 3 Star meister chanted under her breathe before opening her eyes and staring back at the beast.

The beast with the tainted soul stared back at the meister-weapon pair before opening it's mouth to scream. But what happened next threw the pair off guard.

It's body had begun to dissolve and from the looks of it, growing shorter. It's form was taking a drastic change in size and shape. An elongated arm grew out from it's back while it's legs took a more shapely form.

"Wha-what the hell's going on here. What's it turning into? Soul?"

"..." He was too shocked to answer after seeing the odd shape it was taking. It looked all too familiar it was almost impossible to believe.

"Soul?"

His eye lid shuttered open and closed while the black blood beast's form had begun to take a more human shape, one all too familiar to the pair of witch hunters.

The black soul'd figure grumbled before fully transforming, reveling in the shock it left the pair in.

"Something wrong? What? Is there something on my face? Oh! Or maybe it's my everything that has you looking like you've just seen a ghost?" The somewhat seductive manner in which she spoke was doing it no justice in trying to convince the Spartoi members of what was really going on.

"M-Maka. Tha...i...Uh.."

"Uh, yeah."

"So what's the plan?" The Demon Death Scythe asked. This wasn't their normal run in the mill kishin soul opponent. No, Maka could easily sense the difference. There was something hidden beneath the surface besides the black blood running through it's veins.

"We'll use our advantage of manipulating your blade length. We'll draw it in close and go from there."

"Alright let's do this, Maka!"

"SOUL RESONANCE!"

An look of fury burned in the green eyed wonder's eyes with an aura large enough to back it up. Maka was ready to destroy this disgusting doppelganger that ruined her night out.

Maka worked quickly by rushing in on the fake. She stuck the bottom end of Soul's weapon form into the ground and used it as a lift to fling herself feet first at her opponent.

The copy drew back on it's scythe and swung to the sky at the moment Maka would kick it in the face.

_Shit! Quick Soul! Pull me back!_

_I'm on it!_ As fast as he could, Soul switched back to his human form while pulling his Meister back into his arms.

"You ok Maka?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Guess that won't work. I still haven't perfected shooting out my Soul like Black*Star, so we still need to get close to be subdue it."

"So what do you suggest?" Soul asked before returning to his weapon form.

"Well I think we should treat our guest with some respect. It's all out or nothing. And right now I wanna tear that bastard to shreds for ruining this night!" Under the shadows of the night Maka dipped her head and ripped a perfectly sane grin from ear to ear. She let out a low chuckle before rushing in again.

"EHA HA! HA HE HE!" Maka ran in at full speed towards the imposter with all intentions of destroying ever fiber of it's being. She spun Soul all around her body as protection from any sort of projectile attack that may come. Or at least that how Soul was looking at it.

_Shit Maka! What's gotten into you all of the sudden? You know we shouldn't be using the black blood so feverishly like this. You have to stop this!_ Soul's screams and shouts were falling on deaf ears. Maka's goal was already set.

Destroy the criminal that destroyed her memories.

"Oh? This again? You're the smartest Meister in school but you still don't learn do you? That approach won't work twice! I'll cut you in two! Kya ha ha!" The black blood criminal swung her blade in the same upwards as it did just moment before to slice the teenage girl.

"I've got you now you jealous little bitch!" Maka's feet were leading once again and were moment away from being cut off. Contact was made, resistance was felt confirming a hit.

_What the fuck? So heavy? What's this girl made of, lead?_ It completed it's swing ending with it's scythe's blade at it's back.

"Gotcha." Maka assumed this one couldn't sense souls. If that were the case it would have ben able to predict what was about to happen. With the black blood running through her Maka hoped that her opponent would strike her. She used the direction of the slice to loop on behind the criminal. She grabbed it's legs with both hands and let out a quick victory laugh. It was as easy as flipping a switch after using the curse so many times. Gone was the possessed chick out for blood, Maka's game face was back on.

"You're mine now you asshole! DOUBLE SOUL MENACE!"

_~!~_

"And that's that." With a huff of air, Mrs. E wiped herself clean of any dust and continued on her way. She wasn't late just yet, but this little 'bout put her back more than just a few minutes. Thankfully her bike wasn't damaged in the fight.

She quickly collected herself and thought of a fair excuse to give to the client when the time came. It was still a surprise though. The first one she'd seen since that day and it was able to read her soul. It was like it sniffed her out from the boondocks. Maybe Amsterdam wasn't as safe as she thought. But it was as far away from the states as possible. And that's what mattered to her.

The twenty minute sprint was quieter than the first half of her journey. Hopefully those perverts got the message not to fuck with her anymore. They saw what she could do and were scared. She inflicted fear into their hearts. She knew all too well how powerful a weapon fear was.

Mrs. E soon came upon a fairly large housing district. Her legs came to a stop on the pedals as she let the wheels use what energy they already had to take her away.

"Forty three twenty one. Hope they understand what being fashionably late means." She knocked twice and waited for an answer. A curtain from the inside flipped up and tiny eyes peered through. The blinds quickly dropped back down as the door opened.

"Ah, you must be the Piano teacher. Mrs. E. right?

"I'm so sorry for being late. My apologies. Something came up that had to be taken care of a-"

"Oh please, don't be sorry. Lift your head. Junior was just taking a nap anyways. It's perfectly fine. I'm just glad that you speak English. It was unfortunate that we were forced to move here due to my husband's work while the kids are still as young as they are. I was worried about their overall education. Not many people here speak English as fluently as I'd hoped, I'm just so glad we found you."

The bleach blond hair on this woman was almost enough to blind Mrs. E. Her perky attitude was another thing. She was clearly just a housewife. Her clothes were dirtied with what looked like pasta sauce and unless she was wrong, that was a string of spaghetti hanging for dear life by her waist line.

"Well, come in come in. Make yourself at home. The Piano is in the family room. So just set up whatever you need and I'll have the little runt in there in just a moment. Just gotta clean him up a bit and he'll be ready. And again, thank you so much for making the trip all the way out here."

"Oh, no need to thank me. In all honesty I need the money pretty desperately. Waiting tables at some no name pub doesn't exactly warrant decent tips let alone a reasonable salary." Explained the silver haired teacher. She was a bit reluctant to take the offer, but when push came to shove she needed to fill her stomach with something, and that meant she needed money.

"Yeah, about that. I'm still wondering why you're here in the country. Surely teaching Piano, or generally speaking, teaching at all, isn't that high in demand over here. And I'm sure you can wait tables in another country or work at a bar elsewhere for better pay. So back to my question. What brings you here?"

_Ya know, for a stay home mom you sure ask a lot of questions lady. Just bud out._

"I'm searching for something."

"Oh." Mrs. Briggs' eyes grew wide with intrigue. "And what might that be? Or whom might it be?"

"No one!" She snapped. "Uh...I mean. No one. It's nothing. Just forget it. Can you get the kid if it's not too much to ask. It's already getting dark and I live pretty far from here."

"Ah yes. My apologies. JUNIOR! GET UP, NOW! YOU'RE TEACHER IS HERE AND HAS BEEN WAITING PATIENTLY!"

Mrs. E.'s ears rung for the better half a minute before there was any sign of her hearing coming back to normal. With that she led herself to the family room where the Petit Grand piano sat. It looked brand new as it glistened from a fresh coating of wax. She sat herself down on the corner of the bench as she always did, and scooched herself towards the middle until she felt comfortable. At first it was just a force of habit, but as time passed it became more of a memento of a time that once was.

A little kid came up and sat down next to her and introduced himself. His smile was as genuine as his missing front teeth. He was a cute kid, couldn't have been any older than ten, maybe eleven years old with blond hair just like his mother. Must run in the family.

"You must be Junior." He gave a slight nod. "Alright, so, tell me. What's the extent of your musical knowledge if any?" He shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Ok, a beginner." She stretched out her fingers and cracked her neck before opening up the case, revealing the black and white keys.

"First things first, you want to position yourself in the middle of the keyboard. That way you should be able to reach whichever keys you like." She got up from the bench and positioned Junior in the middle.

"Next you should go over every key one by one so you know exactly the sound each one makes. It's always best to know what you're working with. That and it's important to know where every key is. You understand?" Again he shrugged his shoulders.

"Ok? so from left to right, the keys are as follows. C. D. E. F. G. A. B. And C." She announced with each click of a note.

"But what about the other keys?" Junior asked.

"Oh right. After B comes C again. And then D, and E, and F again. It repeats all the way to last key. Those are the white keys only. The black keys are your major and flat notes. But for now let's stick with the white notes. It's better to learn how to crawl before we walk, alright?"

"Kay. So what key do we start off with?"

_Oh God, please no. Don't do it. Hold out, come on, we can do it. We can't do this here._ Lectured the instructor to herself.

"Well, let's start from all the way from the left and make our way down the board, shall we? Alright, now say it with me."

"C. D. E. F. G." She paused, her eyes twitching at the sound.

_Come on. I just cooled down. Control yourself._ She shook her head and continued on.

"A. B. C. D. E. F." She took a deep breath of air."

"G." And let it out with a sigh of relief.

_That's better. Come on now. Pull yourself together. We need the money._

"Ok once more now. Say it with me as you press the keys. A."

"A."

"B."

"B." He followed

"C."

"C."

"D."

"D." Junior repeated

_Almost done now. Come on. Once we start it'll get easier._

"E." She continued.

"E."

"And F."

He pounded his finger for the last time on the key.

She shut her eyes and readied her self for one more test. Shivers ran from her neck to the bottom of her spine as her body shook from the tension her imagination was creating.

_'It's the Witch Hunter that surpasses the Witch Hunter'_

"Huh? What? Di-did you just say something Junior?"

"Me? No."

"My bad. alright continue then. Almost done with the first line. We'll repeat this 8 times. Or at least until you've memorized each key and their respective sounds.

She watched as his stubby index finger inched towards the key.

_'Let me hear it. Just one note is fine...'_

"What? Who's there?" She quickly grabbed a hold of her head and squeezed as hard as she could.

_Get out get out! Stop it! Just get out of my head already! Why won't you stop torturing me already!_

"Yo-you're scaring me Mrs. E. What's wrong with you?" Junior quickly jumped from his seat on the bench and ran to get his mom. Meanwhile Mrs. E. sat herself back down and had begun to rock herself back and forth with her clutches digging deep into her hair.

_Get out! Get out! Get out! Why! Why does this have to happen every time? All I want to do is to hear him one more time. That's all I ask of this life. Just one more time._

_'Insanity has the power to fascinate people...Maybe that's what makes it so fascinating.'_ She was sure that she'd heard this lecture once before. It was so many years ago, and as much as she now wanted to forget it, his words would forever be buried in the back of her mind.

She couldn't contain it any longer. Her blood was boiling and one the verge of bursting any second now. She needed to let go of her restraints and let the music flow. She lifted a single finger and guided it towards the keyboard.

"Hey! Mrs. E. or whoever you are, stop what you're doing this instant! You're scaring my kids. So please. Close the instrument and let yourself out the door.

Said pianist cricked her head ever so slowly in a demonic manner until it she was facing the mother of the household.

"I-I said y-you can go now. Ple-please."

Mrs. E. turned her head back around and jut her eyes to the ceiling before crying out in a burst of giggling unfit for a twenty year old woman. Her finger strongly pressed the last key to her conscious as a powerful wind swept through the house.

_"G" Huh? Straight forward. It fits you, Maka._

* * *

><p>Thank you very much to all who have waited patiently for the release of this chapter. I hope to release a new chapter either every week or two. I don't get much time at all if any during the week to write. And this upcoming weekend I'll be away. So please bear with me when it comes to updating. I promise you'll get what you're waiting for when new chapters do come in. I won't spare a single word when it comes to this one.<p>

So again...thanks to all who reviewed Chapter One ^_^ I appreciate it very much.

**gue22** - :p I'll be having your emotions running wild all through this rollercoaster of a story. I'm glad you enjoyed the fluffy scene XD It might be the only one for a good while. And look at this. I got off the couch! I wrote while in bed! lol

**The Cool Girl** - Thanks, glad your looking forward to it. Hope you come back for more :D

**Saiyajin-Love** - Thank ya, I take pride in capturing detail even with the amount of words I usually input. Jeremy, in case it wasn't explained clearly enough was the child of an unfortunately poor woman, so he was left in the care of people who could at least keep him alive. Your other questions I hope were answered with this chapter ^_^ Or I might have already told you in chat.

**MusicSoundsMySoul 14** - Thank You very much. Mysterious is exactly what I'm going for with this one. :D

**xxBurningxx** - *In my best whiny Kiddo Voice* Patti! You're so stupid Patti! You're so Stupid! Glad you like it so far. :D Hope ya come back for more


	3. Chapter 3

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 3**

Blistering rays of scolding sun flashed inside and out of a tiny apartment room. She smacked her head to her forehead, but not to shield her eyes from the invading light.

"Gah! Dammit! It feels like I spent the night drinking. My head is pounding dammit! Eh, huh?" She lifted her hand and shuttered open an eye. It wasn't her skin she felt as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She sighed heavily as realization hit.

The young girl pushed her body up into a sitting position and stared into the mirror on the inside of her bedroom door. Her sight, blurry for a moment as she just woke up, would still never mistake what she was wearing for anything other than what it was. A curse.

"So things got this out of hand last night? Ah! Shit! I was at a lesson yesterday wasn't I? Dammit! I screwed up again, didn't I?" Mrs. E. fell back down onto her bed and yawned as she rubbed her eyes.

"What time is it anyways?" A quick glance to the left where her tiny desk stood, her alarm clocked blinked in bold, red letters.

"What! It's past noon already! Dammit! This has not been a good last twenty four hours. Agh! I have to get to work! But I can't even shower until this stupid fever goes away with this dress." She complained when her stomach began to growl.

"And I'm hungry. Oh. Why me? Dammit! Why do I have to go through this alone? Why only me?"

_I miss you._

Mrs. E. spent the rest of the time in her apartment curling her hair and making some late breakfast. She was already late as it is, so she decided to milk whatever time lost that she could. The shop more than likely wasn't too bust at this hour of the day anyways.

After finishing up a nice bowl of cereal, she grabbed an ice pack and smacked it to her face in hopes of cooling down. She left her apartment with the ice pack strapped to her forehead like an over the top accessory.

But as soon as she stepped foot outside her apartment door it was like mother nature decided to punish her just for the hell of it. Not only was the sun shining bright, but there was a lack of any sort of breeze to compensate for the heat. Wearing a long, frilly and black dress didn't exactly help the cause either.

The ice pack quickly became a mildly cool bag of water inside her grip which soon found it's way onto the horribly paved sidewalk. Thankfully for Mrs. E., her walk to work wasn't very long. But that didn't mean it wasn't excruciatingly hard to manage. That went double for her when dressed like this.

_Stupid dress. I hate this stupid thing. Why does it have to weigh to fucking much?_ She cursed to herself. She kept quiet along her stroll to work. She caught more than a fair share of the locals staring at her and whispering as she passed them on the streets.

"Did you hear?"

"Yeah, I think that's the girl."

"She's that crazy Devil chick who fought that monster."

"Oh? I heard she also tore up some rich American's house last night too."

"What a psycho. And she works over there are Rich's pub on 5th street."

"That poor man. He probably doesn't know about her tendencies, does he?"

She'd heard enough. Mrs. E. sprinted the rest of the way to work in her black high heels, occasionally losing her balance in the cracks between the cement.

_Assholes! All of them! I hate this place! I hate it I hate it! I wanna go home already! I want to go home! I miss my bed! I miss my school! I miss my job! I miss everything! AH!_ She stopped on a dime and magically thanks to the strength of the black blood, did so without breaking the heal of her shoes. She turned around to face the scum who were talking about her. She huffed in a breath and stared them down.

"Huh? You see that?"

"Yeah she's definitely a demon girl." The whispers continued. She clenched her fists and turned on heal.

_I'm not a demon! I'm not!_ Mrs. E. continued her trek to work with puffy eyes. It took her all but 10 minutes more to finally push through the doors of Rich's.

"Oi! You're late!"

"Shut up! It's empty this time of day!" Barked back the silver haired teen.

"Hey! That's no way to speak to your boss. Apologize this instant. What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Oh I'm sorry, I don't know. Why don't you check the papers of watch the news? You'll see exactly what died yesterday."

Vic, whom actually ran Rich's, was more than just a bit confused by the sudden outburst from his usually mild mannered employee. From the time she started working, the only oddity about her was the way she suddenly appeared in a black vail dress, much like the one she was currently wearing.

Vic walked over to the bar and flipped on the small television set. What popped up turned his eyes to dinner plates.

_~!~_

"Heh. What are you gonna do now Mr. Wanna-be? You don't have any legs to stand on anymore." Maka bragged. She held Soul in a more calm demeanor what with the weakening of their enemy. It's legs were gone and the overall form was beginning to fall apart.

"Oi, Maka! Don't play this out any longer than it has to. Let's finish him off while we can."

"It's fine Soul. Just look at it. It can barely stand."

"Grah! Damn you brats! Damn you all! I'll ma-llll" It's words begun to slur as it's form slipped from beneath it's liquefied body.

"Ahahaha. Look at you. This is just great! You're in pain right? It hurts doesn't it? To have something taken from you?" Maka swiftly shifted Soul's weapon form in her hands and begun to spin him over her head. "You're time is up. I'll be taking you soul!"

The scythe meister bent her knees and pushed off the ground shifting her body weight forward. She ran at the being before taking one big leap in the air. "This fight is over!"

"GRAAHH!" The doppelganger screamed out for it's life, drawing out whatever energy it had left to fight back. The force of it's life support for the moment, saved it's life.

"What the? Wh-what's going on? This can't be happening."

"what? What's going on Maka? What was that force that pushed us back just now? What happened." Silent was the young three star meister. The impossible was happening right before her eyes and she still couldn't believe.

"It's s-so-soul. It's soul is, changing." The once black tint of it's being was lightening into a shade of azure. A bright and shining shade of pure energy was lighting up the night sky.

"Changing? That's not even possible, Maka! What are you say-"

"Just look at it Soul! Look! It's even changing it's form again."

Right before their very eyes the power of the black blood once again showed off it's prowess. It's blood stopped dripping and hardened altogether when it's soul changed color. When it came to it's intended source of power it twisted all around and began shifting it's body all around again.

It's legs toned up more, it's skin was darker. But it's hair was what gave it away. There was no questioning who it was impersonating this time.

"What the hell? It just turned into Black*Star! Maka! What the fuck is going on here? I know I can't sense souls like you, but I'm damned sure that it just got stronger after taking your wavelength."

"Kukuku. So, how about it? Like my new form? It's not as cute as my last one, but it'll get the job done none-the-less." The doppelganger now stood taller than the pair, in a much more masculine figure than before.

"Yeah right. Just because you look like him doesn't mean you can fight even half as well. Just die already!" Maka lunged at her opponent, swinging angrily without caution.

The kishin dodged her attacks left and right with ease.

"Kukuku! I love it! This new body is fantastic! The power! The speed! I can feel it! I have it all! And now, I can see it in your eyes Maka Albarn. That look right there, you're frustrated. But even more, you're jealous, aren't you? Kukuku."

He had to be kidding right? Maka Albarn, top student and Three Star Meister at Death's Meisters and Weapons Academy, jealous of this thing? It had to be some kind of sick joke.

"Ha! And what do I have to be jealous of you over? Because you're a couple inches taller than me? Heh, yeah right?

"Oi Maka! Don't play into it's games! Focus, it's trying to get in your head." Lectured the Demon Death Scythe.

"Kukuku. Oh you poor poor human. I can see right through you. There's jealously brimming through every vain in your body. I can see your thoughts Maka Albarn. You envy the form which I have taken. You're jealous of your friends."

"AHH! Lies! Lies, you're a liar!" Once again Maka flung her tiny body at the much stronger form in front of her, swinging her Death Scythe around like a first grader.

"Oh? Look at this? You're face is turning red now. Is it because you've exhausted the extent of your strength just to keep up? Don't tell me you're tired already? Just when I had so much to share with you, with Soul."

That was it. That was the last straw. This fight was just beginning. It was time to get serious. It could make fun of her all it wanted, but it brought Soul into the equation. Inexcusable.

Maka stopped her nonsensical swinging and took in a breath of the cool winter air. She hardly noticed it before, but her body wasn't slowing up from fatigue. She was freezing her bones off under the twilight.

"Soul. I'm sorry for before. I should have ended this fight earlier when-"

"Maka!" Soul intervened.

"Hn?"

"Just shut up Maka." No offense meant. There was a hidden meaning behind the way the pair communicated with each other during battle that would baffle any one who didn't know them.

"Oh? Getting serious now, are we?" But this thing knew them. It knew them well. "It's about time you did so. But alas, I've grown weary of this little game of ours. Rest assured that before the sun rises on this day, neither of you will be standing in my way."

"Embarrass us? Is that right? You can try all you want, but I'm the coolest guy around. Ain't no way I'm letting that happen, let alone around Maka." He smirked behind his blade and looked back up at his partner. She nodded as a part of their silent pact.

"Come and get it then! I've got plenty of weapons in my arsenal to throw at you! I can do this all night you prissy little brats!" The black blood demon made each precise step to parry from the assault of the the Demon Scythe. Their attacks were quickening in pace, but not only that, they were becoming more precise and on target than where they were moments before.

The combination of attacks were just small parts of one complicated scheme. Their plan was to draw out the fight long enough to catch it slip up, when that happened they would make their move.

_Oi! Come on Maka! Keep it up just a little longer!_

_Agh! I'm doing all I can over here Soul! Just shut up for a moment._

The battles raged on in the barren field that used to be a playground. It seemed like it was never going to end.

"So is this a good time to reveal to Soul that you're jealous of your friends for being able to start a family?" The momentary relapse was enough to give the fake Black*Start the edge in the fight, literally throwing Maka to the other side of the battle grounds.

"Sh-shut up! You don't know anything!"

"Really? I think I know more than enough about you Maka Albarn. I exist because of you. I am product of your envy! Your jealousy. I am all of your negative feelings!" Without hesitation the teenage meister leapt once more with the intent of ripping her opponent to shreds!

"Shut the hell up already and die!"

_Shut up shut up! Get out of my head!_

"Kuku. I can see it with my own two eyes. You can't deny what you feel. You wish so many things in world Maka Albarn. You wish you had a normal family, with normal parents who loved each other and were still together. You wish for a family of your own someday. But you often wonder if that could even happen for a person like you, one who lacks self confidence in her appearance."

"Oi! Shut your fucking trap before I shut it for you! Talk about Maka again I won't just rip apart your body. I'll rip your soul into so many pieces there won't be a trace that you ever existed!" Soul shouted. If there was anything about this boy, it was that he was a loyal and protective person to the one's he cared for. Soul would give his life for the safety of his friends.

"Oh? And you Soul. You're just the same as the girl. You too wish that you had a normal family. You only dream that one day you're parents will stop comparing you to your older brother and just accept who you are and who you chose to be with. You ran away from home in the hopes of escaping your problems. But you can't run, not from me Soul Eater Evans! For I am everywhere! Ehahahaha!"

"You're done." Maka whispered to herself.

"I'm sorry what was that? I couldn't hear you. Would you mind dying already?"

"I said you're done! You're dead! Finished! Done for! Your time is up! Come on Soul! It's time to finish this once and for all!"

The pair stood their ground and channeled their energies into each other. Soul his wavelength into Maka's and back out to create a power stronger than before.

"RAAAAAHHHH!" Maka's Grigori Soul swelled to an enormous size before peaking at a size larger than the Fake Black*Star's. In a flash, Soul's dark blade shone a magnificent glow that rivaled that of the midnight moon's. The Witch Hunter had awoken from it's slumber.

"Kukuku. It's so sad that you've gotten so serious so late in the game. I'm just about ready to finish up. I've grown bored of this game of tag we've played. I think it's time we've said our goodbyes."

_Ignore it Maka! Let's do this already!_

_Right. Let's go!_

"Yaah!" She started with an uppercut that cracked the ground below it's feet. It was finally vulnerable to attack in the air. This was their chance.

"Oh darn. It looks like I might not last very long with that wavelength of yours Ms. Albarn. But alas, let me leave you with one last thought. Just something I found to be very interesting. It involves the both of you."

Maka ignored it's preaching and continued her vicious assault, slicing up tiny bits of black blood along the way to her victory.

"Just shut up and die."

"Oh. Such harsh words. And we've been together for so long. How could you be so mean to me Maka? How could you be so mean to yourself? To Soul?" Again Maka hesitated to swing, even if it was just for a short second, it was enough for the imposter to dodge her attacks.

"Ah, so I am getting through to you? Well, I can't say I'm surprised. I am the result of both of your emotions. But would you like to know which one your emotions I find the most interesting?" A silent was all it received. "There's this thing you humans call love. It intrigues me so. On one side you have the one who supposedly loves with all their heart, while the other is sitting there by their lonesome questioning what they really feel."

"Shu-just, just shut up!" The imposter was quickly gaining the upper hand in the battle of mentality. Not only was Maka shortening her swings, but she was more often than not pulling back altogether. It was as if she was letting this monster have it's way and say what it wanted to say.

"But I don't quite understand which feelings of this 'love' comes from either of you. There are many conflicting feelings within one of you that I would like to bring to the surface if you don't have a problem. It may be a little excessive, but I'm running dry of any other alternatives to this solutions. So prepare yourselves, Maka Albarn, Soul Eater Evans. It's thanks to you that I've been given this extraodinary power that only Gods could dream of!"

The beast cackled to the skies while growing a sword from within itself that looked peculiarly like Tsubaki's Uncanny Sword mode.

"I'm going to reveal to you both your true feelings, but there's a catch." It's head shifted in an odd ninety degree angle that defied the normal capabilities of the human skeleton.

"One of you is going to have to die!"

"Yeah? We'll just see-uh!" In the blink of an eye the gap between the fighters was gone.

"Speed Star. Time is up Ms. Albarn. It's time."

"MAKA!"

_~!~_

"So you destroyed that poor ladies' house? Haha oh wow. That's a new one."

"He-hey stop laughing! It's not funn-ow! This stupid fever nor this dress will go away."

"Well why don't you just take it off then? You should be able to do that much right?" She really wanted to just smack him. He really didn't know anything about what he was talking about, and the stupidity that was coming from his mouth was more than enough to set her over the edge right now.

Every time her fever begun to cool down the dress began to feel lighter and even fade away. But that didn't last very long in this building which lacked a proper cooling system.

"You say that like you think I haven't tried before. How would you like to try ripping cement from your body. While it may be an amazing defense when used in battle, this thing weighs a ton." She explained while tugging on it to show.

"I see. Whatever. You did quite a number on that kishin thing, or whatever you called it. Where'd you learn to do things like that? The people may be calling you a devil, but they're just dumb ass perverts. If it wasn't for you, they'd all be dead."

It was true. Though they called her a devil woman, they respected her. Albeit it out of fear, that just assured her the ability to walk around without being hassled for her body.

"Maybe I should have let them die." Of course it was just a joke, but she couldn't lie, she did think about letting it happen.

"Yeah? And that would just mean less customers coming around, and more rumors spreading about your psychotic tendencies." Mrs. E. was one of Vic's best marketing tools in bringing in new customers. Everyone loved to see some cute little girl play a piano and lose her mind. Add incredible fighting skill to the equation and you have yourself an unbeatable marketing value.

Vic shut the television off after checking the time. It was already the middle of the afternoon. About the time where customers would start coming in and ordering drinks. He ordered his waitress to sweep the floors and clean tables before anyone came in.

It wasn't much longer after when they started coming in one by one. He watched from the sidelines as they quickly filled up tables and made a mess of things as quickly as they were cleaned.

"Yo! Eater! What are you doing? We got customers! Stop walking around and work. I gotta do some paperwork in the back so I'll help in just a minute."

Vic quickly rushed behind the back of the bar and shut the door tightly behind him. He lazily reclined in his chair and laid his feet up on his desk.

"Ah. A quick nap won't hurt. I'm sure she'll be fine out there by herself for a bit. A little shut eye will help with dealing with the whole 'Devil waitress' later."  
>Vic rested his closed his eyes and rested in his comfortable rolling chair. He'd been up for several hours already, but his work day was just beginning.<p>

_Mmm. Maybe I shouldn't have gone to the gym so early. The stiffness in my neck still hasn't passed. Should probably see a doctor about that. Oh well. Another day._

Vic let his thoughts drift into the back of his mind so he could finally get some sleep. But today just wasn't his day. The company phone to his side vibrated and rung a loud tone in his ear disrupting his nap.

He fumbled with picking it up.

"Um...ah...uh, he-uh..,hello? Who is th-Hey hey hey! Slow down there! I can't understand a word you're saying. Now say it clearly this time... What was that name? M-Ma-ka Al-u-barn? Sorry bud. The name don't ring a bell.

* * *

><p>Thanks again to those who've both read and reviewed. Really made me smile to read the positive feedback for this story. Although I'm glad it's interesting and intriguing enough for a few of you to tell me so.<p>

Gone for the weekend so I punched this one out before I left...5 am in the moring -_- Fuck me.

**Dashita Tichou** - Thanks, glad ya like it so far

**Sailor Saiyan007** - Oh my little Princess. Here ya go ^_^ Hope ya enjoyed :p

**MusicSoundsMySoul 14** - I'm glad ya think so. It's exactly what I was going for :D

**gue22** - Oh Mama...this review made me smile. To think I was being compared to some fine alcoholic beverage XD Quite the compliment though :D Oh and that line that made you feel bittersweet sadness...it's in the manga... Oops! Forgot to say Spoiler Alert! XD Hope I ended this one on a better note Mama. Hope ya enjoyed :D


	4. Chapter 4

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 4**

Ticks of a lone clock winded clockwise round and round as the day drifted away under the dim lights of Rich's Bar. The overly animated sun had taken it's fall from the sky and gave headway to the once large battleground in the sky. But by no means did this mean that closing time was coming anytime soon.

It had been a strangely busy Thursday night at the small bar. Although it came as no surprise after how the local media portrayed the 'Demon Girl.' Civilians quickly recognized her as the gloomy waitress from Rich's Bar. 'Soul Eater', as she quickly became known as, had handled the floor all night with customers new and old.

The day came so quickly and flew by just as quickly. But there were a couple different things that plagued her thoughts all night as she dodged both verbal and physical sexual harassment from the customers.

First thing's first. There was a pair of customers who had come in hours ago who have ordered nothing but a couple cups of coffee and hadn't said a word since. Dressed in full body cloaks and tinted glasses, they were nothing short of suspicious. Every now and then Eater would catch them whispering amongst themselves sweet nothings about soul, Kishin and Human alike. She made sure to double check on them, and it must have been something she ingested earlier, or maybe it was an after effect of that damned curse of hers, but she couldn't get a clear reading on their souls. They were definitely human, but anything unique was being hidden from her without fail.

Mrs. E had also made a note that they weren't exactly your run in the mill civilians. Behind those loose cloaks of theirs were bodies built to fight. They weren't significant signs, but every time they went to lift their mugs to take a sip of coffee she noticed how tight their clothing became. Not only that but the scars that marked their hands couldn't possibly be from any normal domestic dispute. These guys were no doubt well trained fighters, and that brought up the question of why they were here at a small, no name bar.

They weren't cops, she was sure of that. If they were she'd been arrested or at least approached by now. But alas, she's worked around them without any problems, so far. Maybe they were just strange looking people with no bad intentions whatsoever? And maybe she was just an innocent little girl who made an everyday mistake.

"Yo! Hurry it up over there. Tables five and six need cleaning and customers at table 8 have yet to order even a drink. Move your feet Eater."

Not worrying about cleanliness, she threw the dirty dishes in the sink and quickly guided herself to table 8 to take some orders.

She wrote down the entrees on a short sheet of yellow paper and made way towards the kitchen where a sole cook worked his ass of for 10 hours a night.

"Hey, got some more orders for ya." The overweight and grease covered chef grumbled something under his breathe and continued flipping burgers. Eater walked out with a few words of her own. But when she left the kitchen she had little time to think about it, customers kept flooding in. Something was definitely wrong with this picture. She couldn't handle this all alone, one person simply was not enough. How come it was only like this when she was working?

Mrs. E quickly escaped to the back of the bar in an attempt to get some help from the seemingly relaxed manager.

"Vic! Get off your ass and help me out there would ya? It's like a mob out there? What the hell kind of advertising have you been do-"

"Shhhh shut up for a second. I'm on the phone he...Hey! Hey hey hey! I said slow it down. I...Ye..I mean I..I understand that bu...You're not listening to me! I told you I don't who that person is. I've never heard of any Maka Albarn. There's no way a person with a name like that lives here. It sounds too foreign around these parts. Now please stop calling here. I'm trying to run a business, not a tell-a-thon." Vic slammed the phone down on the receiver and took a swig of beer before throwing his feet up on top his desk.

"What was it you wanted, Eater?"

She wanted to ask for some help, but after overhearing that conversation her suspicions were confirmed. What she overheard before wasn't just a sound in her head leading her astray again.

"Uh..I..uh...that call! Who was it?"

"What?"

"On the phone just now? They called before asking for the same person before didn't they? Maka Albarn." She explained.

"Oh, right. Yeah it's just some weird girl playing a prank or something. But how did you know they called before? You weren't in the office earlier." Vic raised a brow while he questioned his mysterious waitress. "And when did you change out of that weird dress? I didn't see you come in with an extra pair of clothes."

"Huh? Oh, umm these. Yeah, I uh, I was wearing these under the dress. But what do you mean how did I know they called before? You had the call on speaker for a few seconds. Everyone outside could hear it clearly."

"What are you talking about? This phone doesn't have a speaker. And it definitely can't be heard from out on the floor. You're hearing things again. Now get back to work, customers are waiting for their food."

Aggravated with how that conversation went, Eater slammed the door behind her and marched back out onto the floor with a smug look on her face. Vic was hiding something from her and there had to be a good reason why. She definitely over heard the previous conversation. That was most certainly not just something in her head. She was sure now, she was either going crazy or this black blood did more than just work as an ultimate defense.

"Agh, damn girl. What the hell's she babbling about this time? It's always something different. This here, that there. Jeez, it's never a dull moment with her, is it?"

Eater went back to running herself rampant through the pub, working her tiny little behind off. She cleaned off every empty table and filled up the mugs to the two strangers sitting in the back. They thanked her with a nod and continued speaking amongst themselves.

"Something's wrong." Whispered the taller of the two.

"Physical appearances can change..."

"Her soul isn't what was described. It's powerful, a large soul no doubt. But something is off with it."

"So what do you think happened? Is this the person we're looking for?"

The two strangers stared down one another and took another gander over at the woman in the bright white and blue rags wearing a seemingly out of place red tie. When and where she got that ridiculous looking outfit wasn't up for discussion, but it added more mystery to her character.

By day she was just a waitress, by night an instructor of the musical arts. And somewhere in between she found the time to crush any evil that stood in her path with the help of an unheard of handicap.

"May-maybe. Too soon to tell yet. I'm almost certain this is her, but her soul doesn't match up. Her personality matches the description. As does her physical attributes." He gulped. "Barring some changes that come with age, she fits the description."

"This all may be true, but let's not forget the manipulative abilities in this world. Like you said, physical appearances can change, but the soul of a person remains the same throughout a lifetime no matter what state the body is in."

"So what do you suppose has happened? What makes you question this person's identity?"

The leader of the duo looked deeply into his cup of joe an stirred it around a bit, watching it's surface ripple around. He had a couple of theories, but he needed to be one hundred percent sure on the way he was going to act. Their target was no new comer to self defense. He placed his mug back on the table.

"One more time." He whispered before pushing his cup over the edge of the table.

"Hey Miss, some help over here if you please. I've spilled my drink and it's gotten all over the floor. Would you mind bringing some towels?"

"Just a minute!" She screamed from the other side of the pub as she juggled dishes over her torso.

"What a waste of coffee. Damn man, couldn't you think of a better way to get her over here? Ya know, like order some actual food?"

"Ordering food would make it seem like I was hungry. Had I come here for food then I would surely have had my fill by now seeing how long we've been here. We are here to gather information and pick up the package and bring it back to the base."

"Bu-"

"Not buts. I needed the excuse to bring her over here once more. Remember, just because she's a woman, or at least her body is, it doesn't mean she couldn't kill either of us with the flick of her wrist. We must take every precaution necessary. Understand?"

"Y-yes sir."

The two cloaked figures waited in silence for the waitress to come over and clean up their area. She came with a couple small rags she threw to the ground and rubbed around using her feet to dry the floor.

The taller figure stared her down as she crossed her arms with a not so friendly look on her face. An awkward silence shed itself over the small area around the table before one opened their mouth.

"Yo-"

"So which one of you spilled your drink?" They both looked at each other in confusion, this was the first time she'd spoken to them since taking their orders for coffee hours earlier. It was the beside the point that they were supposed to capture her while here she was trying to place the blame on one of them.

"He did it." They said simultaneously. They really weren't helping themselves out. Eater looked over the table and read the situation like a book. There was no mistaking what happened here.

_Shit. What's she doing staring at us like that? I need to stay focused here._ Through his tinted glasses, the leader shuttered his eyes and let his eyes pear into her soul. He concentrated as hard as he could this one last time, there was no room for error.

_Agh! What the hell is going on here! Not only was her soul tainted before, but now it's like it's being locked up behind chains? What the fuck is this girl? Did she do that on purpose or some shit? This becoming really aggravating._ He finished up his observation and let the waitress clean up her mess.

Once done, Eater returned to her usual duties of running around taking orders and cleaning tables while her lazy ass manager slept the evening away in his nice and cozy office.

"Phew. That was too close for comfort."

"Jesus Christ. Is it just me or was she not just giving off some wicked killing intent just then? My head started spinning when she stared you down man."

"Nope, just you. Though she was giving off a negative aura. You're just not experienced enough to repel it yet. You'll get used to it eventually." The leader explained. And though he didn't show it, he was shaken up as well.

_This woman is not normal. What kind of suicide mission is this anyways? Giving this one to us must be like some sort of ridiculous scheme to get rid of us in some sort of noble fashion._

"Yo."

_What the hell were they thinking? Never-the-less, no matter what obstacle jumps in our way, we mustn't fail._

"Hello?"

_But even if we capture her here, where the hell do we go from there? How are we even going to get her out of the country? It's not like we can bring a body through security at an airport, and I'll be surprised if she even joked about listening to our request._

"YO! You in there? Answer me!" Number two shouted to his superior, slapping him across and knocking over his glasses in the process. He proceeded to help his superior in retrieving his shades.

"What the hell man. What was that for?" Number one hissed.

"You weren't answering me. You were lost in your own little world. But now that you're back, you can answer my question maybe?"

"What? What question?" They both took cautionary looks around their surrounding area before continuing.

"Her soul. What did you see? Is it her? Huh?" Number one took every precaution in while on duty, and this mission was no exception. They weren't safe no matter the distance between themselves and the target.

"I'll explain to you in a bit, but first we must get to a safe location. Follow me." Number one abruptly jumped from his seat and made way for the exit. Number two slowly trailed behind after leaving money for the bill plus a generous tip. Once outside of Rich's, the two found a safe area away from the bar, but close enough to keep a good eye on anyone that left through the main entrance.

They hid themselves up behind the shadows in the crevice of two connecting buildings. There wasn't much room to speak of, but they were hidden enough and their vision wasn't skewed at any needed angle.

"Hey! What the hell are we doing here? We're in the back alley way in the middle of some beaten down rural area. Our target is that girl isn't it? That waitress? It is her, isn't it?" The shorter of the two asked as he uncloaked his head letting his hair breathe.

"Shut up! Shut up already will you! I keep on telling you that we're not safe here. And yes. That girl is her. But it also isn't her. Which is why we have to approach the situation with ca-"

"Wait wait wait, wait a damned second here. It is but also isn't her? Start making some sense here? Which is it? Is she or isn't she the target. You peaked into her soul didn't you?" Number one preferred to keep his identity hidden. He took a long breathe of air and slowly exhaled, calming himself before he killed his partner before their mission even got to the fun part.

"Listen. It's complicated, but listen closely to what I'm about to say. Alright?" He nodded. "Ok, so when we first went into that bar I took a look at her soul, it didn't look anything special at first, but after close examination it was something extraordinary in the least. I must ask you something before I continue though. Have you ever heard of a, Grigori Soul?"

Though he couldn't see them, number one could tell his partner's eyes lit up from the way he eyebrows jumped to the top of his forehead.

"That's a yes then, I presume? Well, long story short, that woman in there, our target, is in fact the owner of such a rare soul."

The amount of shock written all over his face was picture perfect. Number one couldn't help but take out his camera phone to capture the moment. If it wasn't for the flash feature though, his partner would have likely been stuck like that for a good while.

"Y-y-you, you mean to t-t-te-tell me, that she, she has a Grigori Soul? That girl in there has one of those rare souls?"

"Not only that, but from what I could tell she also possess a very strong demonic repelling wavelength. Her soul mixed with her special talents are nothing short of a miracle. A person like her rarely comes around once every couple lifetimes."

"And we're supposed to suppress and capture her?" Number two asked with sweat nervously running down his neck through behind his thick and heavy cloak.

"That is our mission."

"And do you actually think that we can do this? It's crazy! It's nuts! It's-"

"Suicidal?" The leader finished while he stared across the street with a determined expression flushed over his features. "Maybe, but it's the challenges in life that keep us going is it not? If not for things like this in our path, then for what reason would we continue to live for?"

Number two couldn't deny the validity of the statement, but that didn't mean that he wanted to go along with it right this moment. He wanted to live to see tomorrow. He still had hopes of one day finding a nice young lady to bring home to the folks back home.

So they stayed in the crevice until the perfect time to come out and ambush the target presented itself. There was no way in hell they believed a fair fight would work in their favor, even with the advantage in numbers. Even without a weapon, the data they had on this little lady clearly showed that she was leagues above them in combat.

Hours passed on before anything significant happened involving the pub. Slowly but surely as the night began to die, customers forced themselves out due to fatigue and the need for a good night's rest.

While some customers left with full stomachs, others left with bruises and cuts all over their bodies. It left the two questioning how any of that even happened without creating a ruckus. The thought lingered about as the clock struck twelve and a loud bell rung over the district signaling so.

_Damn this brat, when the hell is she going to leave that stupid bar? I'm getting tired of sitting here and waiting._ No sooner had he asked, he received his answer. Through a rowdy bunch of drunken delinquents jeering amongst each other, walked out the mysterious waitress who was once again dressed in her formal attire.

_Jeez, what's with this girl? That's like the third time she's changed her clothes._ He wasn't too quick to notice that his partner had recently fallen asleep on him. He slammed his hand over his head and quickly woke him up.

"Hey what th-"

"Shhhh. Don't blow our cover moron." He whispered as he kept his eyes locked on the Grigori soul owner. "She's right over there, ya see her?"

"Oh shit you're right. It's about time! We've been here since like three in the afternoon waiting for this chance." Number two murmured in a more optimistic tone than he'd been using all day. The thrill of the fight had his blood pumping, he was in the mood to get down and dirty, even if it meant tearing up a pretty little lady like her.

"I see your engine's finally running. Well that's good. Cause we strike at our first chance, so change now."

"Whatever you say." While still hidden in the shadows Number Two's body pixilated until his entire form had completely changed into that of his weapon form. Number one held the short sword to his side and quickly leapfrogged his way up to roof.

_Alright, here we go. As soon as I'm sure we're undetectable, I'll make my move, got it?_

_You're the boss. Just remember, this was all your idea to go through with this mission. So if anything happens, it's your fault._

_Hey! If you're going to talk like that then just tell me now. I'll throw you from here and leave you to die. Ok? So the pay attention for at least these next ten minutes and lend me all your strength, alright?_ The duo went back and forth in their heads as they inched closer and closer to their target.

They followed her around street after street until she finally came to a stop. Who knows what it was that stopped her, but Lord Death thank whatever it was. Hopefully it would keep her distracted long enough to be able to strike the first blow.

The hired men hovered above Eater from atop a small apartment building, waiting for the right moment. This would take every bit of courage and strength they could muster.

_Alright this is it. Here we go, you ready?_

_Ready as I'll ever be. Let's do this._

Falling fast from the top of the building, he drew his blade back and took in a quick breathe of air to keep both his arm and mind steady. Any bit of hesitation and this surprise attack would end up back firing.

_Almost there. A little closer, come on! Stay down!_

Crossing his arms, the cloaked figure embraced the concrete below with a soft landing. A small smirk crossed his face after feeling the resistance from the strike. It had to be nothing short of a critical hit. His arm ran from the top of her right shoulder down the left side of her back and straight through her waist line.

He opened his eyes so he can truly get an eye of his dirty work. He expected to see blood dripping in pools from her fragile looking body. There was just no other possible outcome. He struck quickly and precisely, missing every important internal organ, all the while digging his blade deep into her concrete skin.

Unfortunately for him, his opponent was no ordinary human being. She came out of the strike unscathed. Hell, even her dress was still intact, not a single rip on it. How the hell was this happening? This simply just could not be possible. He was a well trained assassin who's taken the life of many kishin souls in the past. How was this any different?

The look on her face was all he really needed to see to know what was so different. The evil ear to ear grin on her face said more than what any words could.

_'Your blood is boiling isn't it? Cmon, nobody's looking down on you, waiting to judge you...'_

She inched closer with that psychopathic grin smeared across her face, running fear through their bodies in every way possible. It ate at their souls, draining the will to fight right out of them.

The cloaked figure suddenly started questioning wat exactly was going on.

_Wha-what the hell is going on here? What is this aura of madness she's giving off? I, I, I can't even move. I can't even run to get away from her. My legs won't move!_

Her body swayed back and forth, rocking her head left and right while moving closer to the boys.

_'It's irresistible ain't it? You're bored aren't you? Have some fun, cmon.'_ The words played in her head like a broken record, guiding her on her path, the only path she could take from here on out. This was it, this was the only thing she could do now.

_HEY! MOVE IT! WE'RE GOING TO BE BEATEN INTO NOTHINGNESS IF YOU DON'T MOVE YOUR SORRY ASS RIGHT NOW! DO YOU HEAR ME!_ The demon weapon shouted to his partner, but it wasn't getting through. The fight was already over. Their fates were decided the moment they came in contact with the mysterious waitress in the black dress those hours ago.

"I, I can't, I can't move. I don't know why. My body won't move and I don't know why. I'm telling my body that we'll die here if it doesn't start listening to me, but it's not moving." The meister cried out to the cloudless sky above.

"Dammit man move it! If you don't we're going to die right here and now! Move your ass you lazy bastard!" Screamed the sword beneath his grip. But his plea fell on deaf ears.

"You know. I think I finally realize why this mission was named..."

"Shut up! I don't want to hear this shit right now! You hear me! We're not dying tonight!"

"My soul. My whole life I thought I was someone special. I had a stronger than average soul, or that's what I was told."

_Are you kidding me? What the hell is he doing? I gotta get out of here? Partner or not, I'm fixin' to live into my 70's, not die before my 30's!_ Number two quickly ripped himself from his meister's grip and turned back into his human form. He was going to escape.

"I'm sorry Jason! I can't die here! I can't! I'm sorry! I'm-"

_'Your soul's gonna rot! Look at it! Your soul ain't moving!'_

Rex unfortunately got himself stuck in the same situation as his meister. He got himself caught in that deadly green stare. He became mesmerized in the power those eyes possessed. He once thought he had a strong will to fight. But at the moment, he couldn't even open his mouth to speak. Every thought lingering in his head told him to keep it to himself and he might have a chance of living to speak of this terror.

"They always told me that no one could touch my soul. That no matter how weak or how strong I was, no matter how beaten up in a fight I would become, that no one, could ever touch my soul. But this mission finally makes sense to me. I finally get why it was marked for higher ranked meisters. But most importantly, I finally get what the name of the mission means."

Jason felt a mind numbing pain race through every fiber of his body as the bones in his left arm felt like they were completely turned to dust.

_'Your soul's cryin. Play! Play! Indulge yourself! Play! That's it! Now do it! Play! PLAY!'_

"I'm sorry Rex. Mission, Code name: Eater, failed."

* * *

><p>Sorry once again for the two week wait in between updates. Last week I took my time to write a One Shot that isn't on my profile. It's rated M and it was for Valentine's day. Yeah, some of you may have read it, but let's forget about that. Onto this!<p>

Well, about this chapter, I would call this the turning point. Because it was with this chapter that I had to chose which path I was going with for this story. And in my opinion, I've taken the right one. So I hope I didn't disappoint you and I hope you all keep enjoying.

**MusicSoundsMySoul 14** - Welp, I'm glad that through the confusion you're still sticking through it. I take it as a full out compliment that your drawn in that like that. :D

**A.S. Aldous Dragon** - Your review really made me smile. Thank you for all the compliments. I appreciate each and every single one of them. It made the 4 and 5 hour train ride to Orlando and back a little easier. But as for the specifics regarding Maka and the Black Blood, don't you worry. I know it's not been explained yet, but it will, believe me. You may think you know what you read, but just you wait *Cheshire Cat Grin*

**Dashita Tichou** - Oh yes, creepy is how I like it. Whom was on the phone will be revealed in due time, so don't worry about that. I can't say now or it'll ruin everything. About the Black Blood dress, it's confusing, and if I revealed to you now how she's using it, you couldn't get the full effect of the plot. But it is acting it usually would. The fever is exactly as you thought, the black blood is just too much to handle. Going back to the Maka vs Arachne fight, Soul throw's his hand to forehead while he tries to get the black blood under control. I only assume the same would go for Maka. I'm glad you're enjoying it so far :D

**Sailor Saiyan007** - :3 Like a Bawse B| I updated :DDDDDDDD

**Saiyajin-Love** - Where is Soul? Well I can't tell you that now, can I? If you put into consideration the lack of true love in Maka's life up to where I put Soul into the equation, she has absolutely none. Her mom leaves while she's still young and her Papa is a cheating bum. So she's allowed to be like this for the sake of wanting to have a real moment with someone she likes. I think I told you in chat that 'destroying the house' was a bit of exageration. Destroying can also mean wrecking or tearing up the place. Not completely destroying like blowing up. Either way though, it wouldn't matter. And Black Blood is like a roofie :D Oh the pieces of this puzzle are certainly piecing together right underneath your nose, you just can't see it yet. You need my eyes to see what's going on right now. Until then, you'll have to wait. :D

**gue22** - ^_^ Glad you enjoyed the chapter Mama and that it was your favourite. But I hope that I can keep making you say that starting with this one. I know you enjoyed the slip into the past, and I hope that it cleared some stuff up. Because as you can see, it was the last one you'll be getting for a while. From here on out, it's full on Straightforward pilot mode. And you MUST read the manga now! Or Zizi Bear will hunt you down and make you! ^_^ Hope ya liked this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 5**

Bright white flashes terrorized the night sky with a booming roar of thunder to back. Whispering winds paved the way for a rare rainstorm over the night sky of rural Amsterdam. Not a single human soul to account for could be seen out on the streets. Then again, word on the street wouldn't categorize 'her' as human anymore. Because no human could possibly do the things she'd be rumored to have done in the weeks that passed since she was first publicly spotted.

From tearing out the souls of two young men, to annihilating any force that stood in her way. From humans to kishins, nothing stood in her way. Any man who dared attempt to apprehend the Demon Girl with the half white mask never came home to tell the tale. Her attacks were too much to handle, and her defense, impenetrable.

Many have tried their hand at capturing the convict with their hand held weapons. From knives to hand guns to assault rifles, each attack ended with the same result. With blood sprawled around the cement as the demon walked away while chuckling to herself some non sense about killing.

"They are things that I have to kill. Things that I have to erase." She told herself as she walked away from yet another bloody body. This bastard thought he could kill her by just swinging a shovel at her head. Well, someone's head came came off, it just wasn't what he hoping for.

"That was a simple method to kill a person." Any evidence was quickly washed out in the rain, there was no reason to panic. But it's not like anyone could do anything even if they knew it was her. Even when they did, the outcome was the same. This poor sap was just another victim of being too naive about the world around him.

"He's dead, I killed him. Ehehehe." Her devious giggle quickly died out from the cackling thunder and lightning around her.

"Maybe he was important, but it doesn't matter. I don't know that." With a limp in her step she kept along the dark path of destruction deep into the night. How many innocent lives would she take tonight? Not even Death knew that.

"Eheheh! This feeling! This blood! It feels great! Ehehehe! It hurts so much! It burns! This blood!" Eater screamed and locked her arms into her arm pits.

"Why Lord Death! Why me! Huh! Why!" Her blood was boiling beneath the skin, itching to come out in an explosion of destructive force. Punching and kicking at every vein, pulling on every nerve in her body. Her brain screamed out at her to regain control of herself.

"AHHH! I! I just wanted a normal life! I wanted a family! I wanted kids! I-" She stifled. The black blood demon girl grit her teeth, trying to hold back any weak emotions trying to make their way out.

"What...What is...What's happening to me!" She whined as tears begun to fall from her right eye. She collapsed to the ground on her knees and pounded the concrete with all she had.

"Dammit! Dammit dammit DAMMIT! What the hell is happening?" She stole a glance at her reflection from a puddle beneath her. She cringed at the sight and reached for her face.

This wasn't her. This wasn't her face. What in Death's name was happening to her? Why was there a clown mask covering half of her face?

_'This became a great problem. Your blood went wild!'_

"Huh? What? Who's there! Who said that?" She looked around in a wild panic. Was she hearing things again?

_'You are going out of control. Isn't this the best feeling?'_

No! For sure this wasn't some illusion. These weren't just sounds in her head, or in a sense, they were.

"Ya-you. I-it's, it's you. But it, it can't be. It can't be you! How! It can't be you!" She knew this voice. It could only be him. Was this it? Was this the path she needed to take to get closer?

_'What are you? What kind of girl are you?'_ The voice continued. But it didn't answer her. Was she ever going to get the answers she wanted?

"Get...eh...Get, get out of my head! Get the hell out! I don't need you! I don't need this! I don't need anyone!" She angrily shook her head and continued to punch the ground with inhuman like strength, making her own cracks in the street.

_'Are you afraid to do things seriously? Are you afraid that people judge your true self?'_

"Huh?"

_'You are always like that. You bear too much in order to control your black blood and your madness.'_

Was this guy some sort of mind reader or something? Or was he really just in her head, another voice trying to screw her up and drive her from her goal? What was his purpose this time? Perpetuate another killing spree? Why was she doing this? Why was she even questioning her own actions. The silver haired waitress knew what her goal was. She knew what she had to do.

"I just want to hear him one more time! Just one more time! Is that too much to ask for!" That's all she wanted. Just one more moment with him! Why was that so hard to understand? He was the only reason she was still breathing.

_'Because of some kind of reason given to you by your own auto discipline you always refrain yourself, even in eating.'_

"Wh-what? What! Eating? EATING! You wanna talk about me refraining myself? How about you show your fucking face and say it to me in person! I'll show you who's refraining themselves!" This devil was really digging deep under her skin, just waiting for her to explode in a blind rage.

_'You can't resist it. Hell is here.'_

"Huh? What? Hell is here? Where! Where is here? Hell is here! Hell is there! Hell is-"

_'A person's heart is a very fragile thing. Come quick, the madness is waiting for you.'_

Waiting? For her?

She quit pounding the ground and calmed her breathing to a steady pace. With a sly grin opening up the right side of her uncovered face.

_'Madness is contagious.'_

Contagious? Yeah, she knew that well. She could still remember the first time she fell to madness. She left a few markings on a friend that would remind her till the day she died.

As black as night, her heart was wretched and broken. Torn to pieces and ripped to shreds. Her soul could barely take the pressure anymore.

_'Call upon the demon that is within you! You don't have to suppress **MADNESS!** Seize it!_  
><em>Try to do things seriously!'<em>

She heard a crack in her head after that. Like something locked up was just let loose to roam free. Like a bird whose wings became unclipped. The demon in her whose cage was locked, came undone.

"The ache that I was enduring until now, I'm letting it out." Eater whispered to herself. A crack of lightning struck just a couple miles from her location, burning a condominium down instantly.

_'Here it comes! Hahahaha! A huge storm that not even the weather forecast could foresee! I will not only destroy your reputation, but also your life! Isn't that right!'_

The voices grew louder and louder, pounding inside her head as she scrambled to her feet and continued her stroll along the empty streets. Not a single lamp post was on, not a single light in the houses to her left were on. Not a soul in sight to feed her appetite for destruction.

"Wha-what, what are you?" Eater murmured to the sky above. She didn't expect a reasonable answer.

_'What am I for you, I mean, I really scare you, right?'_

Scare her? If she had to think about it, she didn't need to admit it out loud. She knew the answer, and somehow, knew it knew as well.

_'Can you exist, in madness?'_

Madness? Could she? Could she just exist. Just this, only her. She didn't need anybody else, right? The only person she truly cared for was gone and there was no bringing him back. What more did she have to live for. She could just release her grip and let it all go.

She wouldn't have a care in the world. She'd destroy, rip apart, and tear whatever was in her way in two. That didn't sound too bad compared to what she was going through on an every day basis.

Only sore memories plagued her life. There wasn't a single happy moment worth remembering. Maybe she should just let herself go into the madness. Release her inhibitions and go with the flow. Let that stupid ogre take her body and let her rest. Become one with the madness.

Her legs were becoming hard like stone, her body couldn't hold itself up anymore. She fell to her knees and broke out into a heavy sweat.

What was happening to her? Was she really going to go out like this? Was she really going to just give up on life? Give up on her last wish? Where was her cavalry? Where was her rescue group? The knight in shining armour always saved the princess from the tower. Where was her knight? Why wasn't anyone trying to save her!

_Help me. Someone...please. Someone...save me from this hell._ Eater cried to herself as she felt the energy leave her body. Her limbs felt like jelly as her face hit the ground with a thud.

_'Pah! Stupid Girl. You think this is Hell? This world is just a figment of reality. The real Hell exists in here. In your head!'_

She wanted to cry. Just cry and forget everything. What was worth living for anymore? She had nothing and no one to care for anymore. All she had was this stupid dress that came and went whenever it felt like it. This stupid black blood was nothing but a curse. She knew that taking some of it was just a bad idea. It seemed like a good idea at the time to take it with her as a momenta, a reminder of what she once had. But it's only led her astray.

This wasn't who she was. Under this dress, under this curse, slept a soul so powerful it brightened rooms covered in layers of darkness. She used to be able to keep even the most distressed of friends calm with just her soul. Now, now it was nothing more than just a regular soul crying for help. Pleading for someone to help it out of the darkness.

Why! Why why why! Why was this happening to her! She was a good person all her life. She woke up early and did her morning workouts. She made sure to shower twice and day and brush her teeth after every meal. She was at the top of her class in every academic category while still being able to complete every mission she took on.

So why was this happening to her! She was a nice person who always cared for others before putting her own feelings into the equation. This couldn't be happening. This had to be some sort of trick. It had to be. There was no way a person like her could end up in the cold rain, dying alone.

_'Your body is weak! At this rate, you're finished! Leave it to me, I'm much stronger!'_ The ogre wasn't about to give up. So close. He was so close to gaining freedom. So close to having a body all his own. One that would help him destroy this world and the next. No one would stop him, not even if he was controlling a weak, human body.

Weak? Since when was she weak! She was one of the best meisters to ever come out of Shibusen. She was only second to her professor when it came to wielding a Death Scythe. Weak? A 3-Star meister, weak? This had to be some sort of horror story. This couldn't be real.

"Wr...wron...you're wrong." She mumbled from the floor, attempting to push herself off the ground. She had to fight. There was still something she had to do before she died.

_'Heh? You're still there? Give up already you weak little brat! You're life is as insignificant as the street you lay in. You are nothing! You have nothing! So lend me your body and I can make this pain go away!'_

She wanted nothing more than to be relieved of this pain. This wound that just wouldn't heal. It hurt more than any cut or broken bone could ever. The arrow that pierced her heart couldn't be pulled like a string controlling a puppet. It needed to be mended and brought back to health. And whether that meant eternal damnation, she was willing to think it over.

"I...I don't know. There's...there's still-"

_'Are you kidding me you brat! He's dead!'_ The demon barked back. He let that last attack sink in and float around. Maybe now she would come to her senses and just give up. It was already too late anyways. Her soul was already completely encased by the black blood.

Her body froze in shock. She knew it was true, but this was the first time she had someone else tell her. And that didn't make it anymore pleasant. It still hurt. It was a good thing it was raining, so she could wash out the tears from her face as they fell from her face.

_'Ahaha. It's about time you've realized it. Do you see now! This goal of yours is pointless! It's all for not! It'll never happen! He's dead. Dead as you can possibly be. His body is gone and buried six feet under that desert you used to call home! So give it to me!'_

Eater couldn't respond. He was right. The demon was right. Soul was gone and there was no bringing him back. There was no chance of hearing his cool voice ring through her ears. And there was definitely no way in hell she was ever going to replicate his style of playing down to the last note.

This was it. She'd given up. All hope was lost. There wasn't anymore reasons to keep on living this lie, hoping for the impossible. How much time did she even spend on this fiasco? Weeks? Months? Maybe years? She didn't know exactly how long, but it was far too long.

"I...I've made up...I've made up my mind." She mumbled from beneath wet cobblestone streets. As she said this a ditsy little tune had begun to play in her head. It skipped a beat every so often and through her off balance.

It scratched at the doors to her soul, begging, pounding at the wall to come in.

_'So we've finally come to an agreement? Feh, about damn time. I'll give you one thing, you've been a persistent little brat.'_ He waited for her to mock him in return, but it never came.

_'What? Nothing left to say? So that's it eh? You're sad story comes to an even sadder end without a fight.'_ The ogre growled. _'Pathetic.'_

"Ju-just...just do it already." She muffled through the expanding puddle beneath her chin. She spit out a mouth full of water and almost coughed up a lung while she was at it. She just wanted this to be over already.

_'Fine. I'll open the doors. When you walk in you'll have finally handed over this vessel to me. You'll be trapped in your mind for the rest of eternity to do whatever you please.'_

"And Soul?"

_'What about him? He's-"_

"Will he be there?" She interrupted. She knew the correct answer, but Death only knew she didn't want to hear it. A lie would do just fine during her final moments. Anything to help her smile before her end.

The white mask covering her face had grown to cover the majority of her face by this point with the only place left untouched being a small space for her right eye.

_'Hmph. Will he be there she. Heh. Like I said before. Hell is in your head, brat. And when this is said and done, you won't have a head to call your own.'_

Beneath the rubble, beneath the madness induced mask on her face, Eater cracked a small smile. Because she knew that was an indirect "yes". She could re-create him and they could be with each other for rest of eternity, dancing the waltz in each other's arms without interruption. Finally, she'll finally get her wish.

Only a few moments kept her from reuniting with him. What left was there to do?

Nothing.

She had nothing left. There was nothing more in this world for her to do. She made a Death Scythe and became a 3-star Meister. She fell in love. She could rest easy now.

_'Any last words?'_ She shook her head. _'Let's get this over with then. Open your soul to me. Let me in. I've waited long enough!'_ Screamed the ogre for one last time.

She unlocked the doors to her mind and waited for the pain to go away, for the madness to trample all over her soul and steal her body. This was what she wanted. This was how it was supposed to be. They were supposed to be together. It was destiny, fate, it had to be. He was the only one for her. They were perfect together. She was just too scared to see it earlier.

A quiet moment in the dark passed before she started questioning what was happening. Her whole world turned black and the feeling in her arms and legs were finally restored to their previous conditions. But there was still this stinging pain in the middle of her chest that wouldn't go away. What the hell was going on? The pain was supposed to go away! He said it would!

"Hey! Hey Ogre! Ogre! Can you hear me you rat bastard! You lied to me! You lied!" Eater yelped in between sniffles. She tried to contain her emotions as best she could, but she could only take so much.

"Where are you! Answer me! ANSWER ME!" She tried to look around, but all she could see was black. Was it the mask around her face, or did she really fall into the pit of madness? Whichever, it felt cold. She felt helpless, was this what she agreed on? Where were her just desserts? When was her end of the deal going to be delivered?

When no answer came she felt like she'd been betrayed all over again. Men, why did she ever think they were trustworthy? They were nothing but lying, deceiving pigs who played with your emotions and fed you lies for their own entertainment. Just like her Papa, this ogre had betrayed her trust. Lied straight to her face.

She felt herself slipping, falling deeper and deeper into the darkness. Was there no one who was willing to save her? She really was alone wasn't she? She would spend the rest of her feeble existence in this lonely abyss with nothing but own thoughts.

_Save me. Save me now. Someone._

Nothing changed. Nothing moved even an inch in the pitch black.

_Why? Why won't someone save me? What did I do wrong?_

"TELL ME!"

Whatever it was she hoping to come, wasn't. She was trapped. She made a deal with the devil, and this is the price she would pay.

A life spent in the dark with that tiny light hovering above her.

Wait.

"Hey! HEY! SOMEBODY! IS ANYONE THERE!" She screamed at the shining light that only seemed to be growing closer and closer. And as it did it started to take a different shape. A much larger form.

Huge, fluffy, white wings grew out from the sides. Arms and legs soon followed. Long ones at that. And as it drew closer, Eater could just tell.

Maybe it was the familiar sandy hair that gave it all away. Maybe it was that slender frame or those minty eyes. Maybe it was everything, but her form. The masked girl felt a radiant energy pulsating from the angelic form that just pulled her in.

The wing figure wrapped her soft arms around the masked girl and rest of her head on her shoulders with her eyes gently shut.

"It's ok. Everything's going to be alright now." It spoke with an all too familiar voice.

Realization was taking place inside the young witch hunter. This soul response. There was a reason is felt so familiar. This warmth, it burned the mask from her face, releasing her from the madness wavelength.

The angel took Eater's face in her hands and stared her straight in the eye.

"You've done well. But it's time to go now." She said with an innocent smile and tilt of her head.

"Wh-what? Where? Where am I going? Who are you? Where am I right now?" She cried, desperately pleading for an answer. The angel continued to smile and embraced Eater in a soft hug, wrapping her wings around their bodies.

The black blood dress started to evaporate until it wad finally gone as the two floated up from whence the angel came.

"He's waiting, Maka."

* * *

><p>AN: Welp...this chapter went took a completely different turn than I originally planned o_0 Wtf happened to what I wrote down? *shakes head* Oh well, I hope you guys liked this chapter as much as I did. If it was hard to follow at all, I'm sorry. Any questions I'm sure you my have will be answered in like, 2 chapters! I swear! So, just please hold out a little longer.

**gue22** - Cause her boss said not to worry about them :3 Plus, she had the two goons to worry about. But don't worry Mama. She'll find out who it was soon enough ;) And of course. Bad ass Maka is epic Maka. But how about Bat shit insane Maka? You likey? :3

**Dashita Tichou** - I don't. They tried to hurt my Maka! Those bastards T_T :p lolol Nah, I had fun writing their parts. And thanks, I'm surprised no one thought of that before. It seemed like an obvious thing to me. :/ Eh.

**Sailor Saiyan007** - Yes...yes she B| Updated ^_^

**MusicSoundsMySoul 14** - Haha nice. I wish I knew about FF back when I was still riding the bus to school :p v_v Now I feel old thinking about that. Too long ago -_- And yeah. Her names just come with the situation. Mrs. E. for formal occasion and Eater non formal :p Understandable right? She's sort of, hiding. So multiple aliases is necessary :D

**Saiyajin-Love** - Hahaha lol jk **T_T** Lazy Procrastinator.


	6. Chapter 6

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 6**

Roaring engines of Boeing 747's screamed through the early morning desert sky as a loving couple stood out on the boardwalk, waiting for a ride to catch. After an almost twelve hour flight across sixteen time zones, a two hour layover, plus another hour and a half flight, anyone would be tired. But among these two people wasn't just anyone.

With tape wrapped around his arms and a single scar plaguing his body, he stared out into the desert sky with glistening stars. It was a long journey and he hoped they weren't too late to the party. But he kept positive thoughts about and never for a second doubted the strength of a soul like her's.

Taxi cabs passed the couple by, he never could get used to such simple things like being the passenger of a car. He considered stepping out in front of a cab and forcing it to drive them, maybe that would help put him mind to ease. But alas, he had to consider every possible outcome. Using his better judgment he calmed himself with self taught breathing techniques.

But that didn't mean he wasn't ready to burst at any moment, they were still in a rush. He was just being cautious. They had somewhere to be and had very little time to waste. It didn't help that the urgent news wasn't communicated to them the day it should have. Their friend's weren't just thinking for themselves, they knew the couple was on vacation and didn't want to be disturbed. But horrifying news such as they received most certainly bypasses any sort of unspoken rules about a 'Do Not Disturb' sort of vacation. It was of the utmost importance that they continue their long journey home, the marathon was at it's end, it was a simple walk home from here.

The tall and tanned man sporting a beanie on top of his bright blue head reached his right hand out to his partner and gently gripped his palm around her fragile fingers. In a moments passing, the pony tailed beauty of a women was gone. And in her place was a short and sharpened blade, small enough to run with, but deadly enough to scare away any skeptical looking figures.

"Oi. How far from the school are we?" He asked in as low a tone so only she could hear.

"Shibusen is approximately one hundred and thirty one miles from here. Even driving at an average speed of seventy five miles per hour it would take almost two hours." The dark arms assassin smirked as he pulled off his beanie and tied it around his face leaving only his eyes alone.

"Well we're not going to be driving."

"The average marathoner takes around three to four hours just for twenty six miles." Explained the barely awake demon blade.

"And we're not your average marathon runners."

"Right."

"God's shouldn't let their disciples down, right?" Words weren't need to know the feeling was mutual, he could feel the power of their combining souls pulsing back into him as they pushed their resonance to three fourths of it's potential.

"Right! Let's go!" Their souls begun to resonate at an incomprehensible rate as they screamed to the skies, one only achievable by a pair of weapon and meister who were closer than just partners. But by those who could feel each others' souls without the help of a resonance. These two shared a bond stronger than just the number of soul's they collected. And in a second's passing they were gone, replaced by a trail of sparks that head out towards the desert.

Carrying only the weight of a small ninja blade and the clothes on his back, the dark arms assassin trudged through a sand storm that would put force any normal person to hide and find shelter. But he kept his weight low and close to the sand beneath his feet and pushed on, slicing through the storm as it shot grains of sand his way.

They covered incredulous amounts of distance in a short period of time that they left masses of their shadow's behind as they continued onward. Their peak speed reaching Mach levels, faster than the average eye could keep up with. No meister-weapon pair could match their physical talents. They were at the top of the mountain as far as soul hunters went.

Twenty minutes had gone by and still they kept up an unimaginable pace. They were dead set on breaking every human running record before something out oft he ordinary caught the meister's glowing eyes.

But then...something tall and green caught his eye.

The way he attempted to stomp his feet down in the sand and stop himself was almost as comical as the position he ended up in. With his face cleanly stuck in a dune of warm sand, his better half transformed back into her human form and try to pull him out.

After pulling on his legs for at least ten minutes, Tsubaki finally managed to get him out of the sandy hell. She bent down to pick up his boot she accidentally pulled off and promptly handed it over.

Black*Star pat himself down and dumped the sand from his boots before turning his head in every which way, looking for what made him think of even stopping at a time like this.

"Tsubaki."

"Yes?"

"Which way are we supposed to be going?" He was kidding right? How could he not know by now? How did she deal with him!

"N...North Black*Star." She answered with slight hesitation. Even though he'd certainly matured through the years, he was still utterly hopeless. How did he ever survive without her.

"Right. Transform Tsubaki." With a flash she was back in his hand and in his head. "South we go!"

"Wha wha what! Why? I said North Black*Star! North!"

"But I saw a cactus." He stated without hesitation while his body kept turning as he tried to find where exactly South was. Crashing into a sand dune in the middle of a desert doesn't exactly help one's sense of direction. Especially when you're without a compass.

"Should I even ask?" Tsubaki sighed through her demon form.

"I'm thirsty."

After a short argument about a loss of time, Tsubaki gave up. She wasn't going to win an argument with him when his stomach was doing the talking for him. The only bigger than his God sized ego was his black hole of a stomach. So they turned around and headed back to the infamous cactus that had the 'God' turn his head.

As crazy as it sounds, he attempted to retrace his steps in the sand. And out of some sort of crazy luck, found cacti. Now, no one's saying it was the same one he saw before. But a drink is a drink and it didn't really matter where it was coming from when your throat was as dry as his was.

He wiped his mouth clean after taking a sip of the green juices from inside the plant and arched his back, satisfied with the lingering taste of desert shrubbery.

But as usual, the ever jittery sun was already posted in it's favorite spot in the sky, UV rays burning down on the heavily clothed Bushin. It was then he realized how much time he'd wasted getting a small sip of juice. Like the south side of magnet being pulled to it's north he somehow turned his body in the right direction back to Shibusen.

"Tsubaki!" She was already on it, resonating with her meister and off to the races they went. With the now energized and motivated Black*Star behind the wheel, Shibusen was only a short walk away now. That half way mark they passed just a minute ago, consider it dust in the wind.

Not much farther from here now. From a distance they he could see the top of the magnificent building that was their school. The four candles that stuck out from the sides burned brightly with the flames of the early morning sun. The pillars hung perfectly symmetrical from the skull mask facade that was the face of their workplace. He would have to put fixing that on his to-do list.

Once again the dark arms assassin came to a screeching halt, but this time at the top of a ridge that put him in perfect view of the Death Weapon and Meisters Academy.

From the link they shared he could already feel his partner's gut wrench at the sight they were about to walk in on. It was incomprehensible that such a terrible thing could happen to someone they know and love. They both recognized that you only live once, unless you're a incredibly powerful sex kitten, and that you should cherish life and live it to it's absolute fullest. But there was also the downside of realizing that it is the ionly/i life you get. There are no take backs in this game. So they had to approach the current situation with every possible outcome in their head, prepared for whatever may come.

They sped up the largest staircase in the world and up to the huge blast doors that was the entrance to their second home. Tsubaki changed back into her human form and allowed herself to walk the halls with her partner in crime as they caught every pair of eyes that stared in surprise back at them.

"Ignore them for now, you can gossip later." He wrapped an assuring arm around her waist and dragged her along faster down the halls. The stars in his eyes spread fear into anyone who even thought of touching his weapon. She was tall and fragile, and glowing. And maybe it was because she's always been a bit passive, but her mood swings were being kept in tact quite well for how far along she is.

The duo stopped by Crescent Moon and made their presence known to their favorite sadist and quickly left. No need in getting caught up in another one of his boring lectures and used as an example. There was also no need for them to stop by the Death Room. to say hi, because from the response the God like figure was picking up, he was already at the infirmary with his weapons. There were three others in the room with him. He could assume one was Spirit and the other was Soul. But the other one was on a completely different level from the two weapons when it came to the warmness in her soul.

He didn't need to open the door to tell it was The Pulverizer, Marie Mj lnir. They entered the room quietly as they could, being an assassin, it wasn't too hard to close a door without making noise. Death The Kidd was grateful for the silence. Hell, he was glad that he could keep Patty quiet for more than five minutes let alone the hour they've been in the makeshift hospital.

So they settled for silent greetings and a fist bump, with both hands of course. _'OCD bastard.'_ Tsubaki pursed her lips and gently slapped her partner for that one.

But OCD was the least of their worries. His attention was soon enough on the only reason they cut their indefinite vacation short. He would never show it, but he felt a little worried at the sight of his sister's skin pale as the ghost. Her frail body frame alone was almost terrifying at times, but being in her current state made his stomach churn.

He waited for as long as he could before he moved from where he stood next to Tsubaki. He grabbed her hand and pulled her with him as they approached one weapon who looks like he hasn't slept in years, and another with the warmest wavelength he's ever had the honor of feeling.

With as much restraint as he could hold himself to, he clenched his fists and held back from punching and most likely knocking his best friend into next week for not protecting his meister. There were always two sides to a story, and his would come later.

He clutched his partner's hand in his own and calmed himself and slowed his heart rate down to it's absolute minimum. He hoped and prayed that this experiment would work like he hoped it would. He wasn't a Shinigami nor a Weapon which only made this twice as hard.

Black*Star maneuvered his way around the golden haired Hammer and the Albino Death Scythe. He gently took hold of one of tiny hands with an IV stuck in it, closed his eyes, and focused on the special angel soul buried in darkness.

* * *

><p>The warmth of the angel was an overwhelmingly good feeling. Something she hasn't felt in the longest time. The gloom and hate filled atmosphere of the outside world physically and emotionally abused her way past her breaking point. If this was where Maka Albarn Eater's life ended, then she would be just fine with that. This sensation would be a nice way to end her...<p>

Hold on here for a second. What kind of Angel brings you to a ceiling of Black? Was this not her passage to heaven? She...No. No! She wasn't...going ithere/i, was she? Even with what conspired over who knows how long since she lost Soul, she was still a good person. There wasn't a single moment in her life where she acted with the intent of hurting an innocent person.

But hell, if it existed, was down below, right? So maybe she wasn't dead? Who knew? A quiet moment to herself passed before common sense decided to show up. Her eyes shot up towards the winged being.

The angel would know, right? She is the one guiding her to wherever.

Maka pulled her face from the embodiment of warmth while a bashful blush flushed her cheeks. Before she could free the words from her mouth the tall mother like figure was staring back down with the most sincere smile.

"Don't worry. We're almost there." Her eyes were back on the black, dripping ceiling above. They finally reached the point of no return. It was now or never. But Maka still had no idea what she was supposed to do. She reached out a hand towards the darkness and felt it jump out back at her. She pulled back when it attempted to pull her in.

The last thing she wanted was to fall back into the pitch black and wander endlessly until she completely lost herself. The young grigori threw her arms tightly around the angel and buried her face back into her chest. Shaking her head, instincts told her to wrap herself around the softest thing she could grab.

Her hands lightly brushed by the fluffy white wings and sent a shock down her spine. It was almost, electric. She didn't want to let it go, she needed this warmth, her soul depended on this warmth. She'd grown to adept to the darkness that the need to over indulge in the light was like eating an entire tub of ice cream the day after getting your braces removed. It was one of best feelings in the world.

But this was a battle she unfortunately had to face alone, again. The angelic figure took hold of Maka's body and furthered the gap between them. They were separated by arm's length when their eyes met again.

"You don't have to worry anymore. You're strong Maka. Just ask yourself. Is this all the courage you have?"

Courage. It was the main benefactor in her many victories against pre kishin souls. The one thing that kept her on the same level as her peers. She could never be the physical monster that Black*Star was, and definitely could never compare to Kidd's literal Godliness.

So she stuck to fighting with her fears instead of against them. And just like any other fight, she would gather as much as she could to vault past this obstacle.

Her head fell to the abyss below and quickly back up to the black above.

Now determined to find out what's other side, Maka huffed in and out and put on a stern face and eyed her destination.

"Now that's the Maka I remember. Just never forget, a single candle will shine in even the darkest of rooms. Now Shine Maka. Let your light be seen again."

Those were the only words of encouragement she needed. With a short nod and a clenched fist she somehow vaulted herself upwards in the artificial air and into the ceiling above. Her head hit the top and fought against a gooey texture to force herself in. She was swimming in what felt like pudding. It was hard to push any further than just getting in and an end was no where in sight.

Maybe this really was hell. Maybe that wasn't really an ordinary, good soul loving Angel, but one of Death. Her real body was probably wreaking havoc all around Europe and having a grand 'ol time doing it too. This had to be that damn Imp's fault. He must have placed a fail-safe somewhere in here when he took over. The end was finally coming, what she originally wanted, finally becoming reality. And she was willing to accept it too, if not for that damn shining light up above.

Her eyes squinted at the sudden shower of light. What the hell was happening now. Just what in Death's name was going on here. On minute she's floating with an angel, the next she's in a pool of jello and now there's a light as bright as the sun cutting through the black.

She's hesitant at first when she hears the slice of a blade piercing through and cutting through the blood around her. She's afraid of where it came from and whether it's actually aiming for her. But it stops once it's cut every spec around her. A moment of silence passes while she holds her breathe. Her eyebrows jump to her forehead when a long pale arm reaches down for her.

'_Is this all the courage you have?'_ The words echo in her head. She throws her arm up to the hand above and grabs onto it.

"Hell no!"

The grip around her forearm tightened and quickly pulled her up as quickly as it could, but slowed as it tried to force her through the black blood that surrounded her. The hand pulled harder and harder, but the the grip the black blood had on her was like a fly to a shining light. It just stuck on her in the form of the very familiar formal dress she often donned in the...

Spikes ran from her toes all the way to her eyes when she realized just where exactly she'd been pulled into. But...but how? How was this even possible. The Black Room was simply the inside of

"Soul's mind? Fah. It's you. Psh. Brat." That voice. Maka did a quick One-Eighty and there he was in all his disgusting demonic-ness.

"You...You! YOU! You asshole! What the hell did you do to me! I told you to take away the pain and gave my God damned body to you! You said the pain the would go away!"

"Bu-"

"No! You listen and you listen well you little bastard! Do you realize the hell that I just went through just because I let you take over? Huh! Do you?" You're damn right she's pissed. And she has every reason to be. She was just put through yet another emotional roller coaster because she believed the lies of the little ogre.

"Bah! I don't know what you're talking about, idiot. I haven't even seen you in at least a couple weeks. The madness down there must have been too much for your container to handle. Stupid girl." He spat with the usual displeased smirk.

Her temper was about to overflow the entire room with madness when she felt something grab her shoulder. She quickly turned her body around and screamed.

"What now! What do yo-y...you...wh...who are you?" She quickly jumped back and made some distance between herself and this new intruder with long silver hair quite like her own, except this guy was tall, and intimidating. Then again, she had the Black Blood on her side, she thinks, hopes, at this point doubts.

The side of her that feels the need to defend herself suddenly drops when the fatigue of everything that's happened in the last...jeez, Death only knows exactly how long it's been. All Maka knows is that she's feeling dizzy and she can't feel her legs. Her knees buckle, but she can't feel it, she just sees it happening. In one swift movement the tall man spits out his weed and catches her before she falls.

What the hell was happening to her and why? The tall figure lays her sitting flat on the piano bench and takes some space for himself right next to her. The feeling of awkwardness if most probably mutual, for at least she feels it, he's gotta be. She's never even seen him before, and he just suddenly comes out of no where, pulls her out from the black pool and into the Black Room. This guy is different from anyone she's ever met before. She opens her mouth to thank him but he's not paying attention as he eyes all the candles lit about the room.

The demon has grown bored with the silence and puts on the same skipping record she's so used to hearing. It's the same tune that played when she and Soul would dance. She wanted to dance now, but still couldn't feel the lower half of her body. She turns to the man but he's staring into space.

"So this is where you guys always get lost in. Nice place ya got here. But it could use some brighter colors."

What? What! Seriously? Brighter colors? In the Black Room? It was dark for a reason. Did this guy not get what the atmosphere in here was for? She was furious that he even thought of redecorating this place. How would he even do it though.

They both turned to face each other, her frustrated gaze meeting his stupid ear to ear grin. She swears it had to be the black blood's doing, but his eyes just changed their fucking pigment. His eyes just changed color right in front of her eyes. This was quickly turning into some really fucked up dream. She blinked twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Nope, still green. So she rubbed her eyes really quick to get out whatever it had to be that was skewing her perfect 20-20 vision. And when she opened her eyes, his would be back to...

Stars? Wait what? That can't be right? Blue to green to...wait a second here. The only person she knew whose eyes could do that were...She knew the name, it's on the tip of her tongue, she closes her eyes once more and thinks a little harder. When she opens them the answer is going to release itself.

Except that's exactly what happens! The once silver strands of hair turned into a bright blue mop on top. A dream, a dream! This had to be a dream. And when she woke up she would be back in her two bedroom apartment waking up in her own bed and...

"Ow!" She pinched herself. And rest assured nothing had changed. That same stupid ear to ear grin and that innate giggle sounded out the small room. This was no dream. This was the real thing. The sudden shift in emotions was too hard to fight. Her eyes welled up as she fought the tears from falling like rain during the summer in South Florida. She and Soul had a couple missions there before, no big a deal, besides the beaches.

But this! This was a big deal. This was the stupidest, but strongest person she knew. She finally built up the courage to do what her body's been urging this whole time. She fell forward and wrapped her arms around her oldest friend's torso while she cried on his shoulder.

"Bla...Black*S...Star." She cries over his should while he rubs her back. The Imp is disgusted by the events unfolding in his domain and hates that he can't do anything about it.

"Gah. You humans are pathetic. Just how many more of you are going to invade my living quarters before you're satisfied?" She doesn't hear it, but he does. And even though he's the only intruder in here, with a flick of his wrist the ogre is thrown and locked behind the door that leads to an endless staircase.

"Forget about that bastard. He won't be bothering us anymore." And then an awkward silence filled the room again.

So what now? How was she supposed to approach this situation. He shouldn't technically speaking be able to be here. Hell! She shouldn't be here either. But they both were. And someone had to break this really awkward moment!

"So..."

"Hm?"

"You always wear that in here?" He has to ask, he's never seen her in something so sophisticated, whatever that meant. The dress she despised no more than a couple hours ago was becoming the center of attention.

"Umm, yeah. It's what _he_ imagines I should be wearing." She tell him while putting a ton of emphasis on the he. HE. Soul. Him. His mind! This place was his! So why wasn't he here? Why was it Black*Star?

"It's nice. It suit you." He says it like he's embarrassed to admit it, but he means it. It's impossible to hide anything while you were in here. Which was weird at the moment, because if this was actually Soul's mind, then that would mean Soul had to be around her somewhere. But he wasn't, cause that was impossible after what happened.

The sudden thoughts of him bring down her mood and he catches it immediately. His fingers hold up her chin so she's looking up at him.

"Hey. Hey, what's wrong? The one and only Black*Star is here to save the day but all you wanna do is cry. What's up with that?"

"You know what's wrong. How could you not!" She muffles under her breathe. He hears it, but still has to ask what she said.

"You were his best friend, why, how, are you not mad at me?" Guilt coming over her she turns on the bench facing in the opposite direction of his forest green eyes.

This last question definitely threw him through a loop. What was with the usage of past tense. Were? What does that mean? She's talking about Soul right?

"You know what I'm talking about! Soul! Soul Soul Soul! Soul! Why are you not mad at me?" She screamed, black blood flowing up to her ankles. He put a hand to her shoulder.

"What? What are you talking about? What about Soul? Why should I be mad at you? And what does Soul have to d-"

"HE'S DEAD YOU MORON! It's because of ME! It's because of me dammit." She's crying now and can't find it in herself to stop. She doesn't want to. She's hurt in more ways than one. The black blood threatens to crawl up her knees but he's quick to pound it back to the hell from whence it came with a Soul Force.

A dead silence washed over once again as she that there guilty as charged. He probably didn't want to even look at her anymore. He probably hated her now. He probably never wanted to-"

_'Maka'_ That voice! It was...no. No way. It couldn't. It wasn't possible. It had to be her mind playing tricks on her, while she was in someone else's mind?

_'Maka'_ There it was again. She was certain this time. It wasn't her imagination! It wasn't some demon playing mind games with her. It, being

"Soul!"

* * *

><p>AN: BLACK*STAR! ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ ^_^ I'm soooo happy to have finally gotten him some screen time. When I first started Soul Eater he was easily my number One favorite character. And then it changed to Soul and then back to B*S and then to Soul, and then to Maka :3 *Perv face*

**Also...**I'm soooooooo sorry for the extra week on top of the usual week or two it takes to update _ Procrastination is the biggest bitch in the whole wide world

Anyways, I'm just gonna get to it.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Bitches B|

**gue22** - Multiple Personality Disorder, well that's been obvious since Ch2 I think when I introduced her Mrs. E. side. So, what did happen to Soul? Or, or is Soul the wrong person to be asking about? ^_^

**GoddessOfNight08** - Yeah I see you there breh. What now? *shakes head like an Egyptian* Well, I know this chapter isn't going to help with your confusion, but hopefully everything is starting to come into light, piece by piece. ^_^

**Dashita Taichou** - Is this Angel supposed to be Maka, or is it supposed to be imagery? ^_^ I hope you understood what went on with the angel here.

**Sailor Saiyan007** - Yes, yes I do know how hard it was to read. Cause I gotta reread it myself before posting :p Saying it was supposed t o be her mom would be pushing it too far. I think it's understandable who it was after this chapter.

**Saiyajin-Love** - ^_^ And you should trust Vic because Vic is...*shuts mouth* nah, that wouldn't be fair. They tried to contain her. They knew who she was so they knew a simple slice down the back wouldn't kill her, so...ugh, forget it. Pointless arguing this bit of nonsense. -_-

**Saiyajin-Love** - It'll be easier to answer your other review into two parts. Well. Maka kills people, sort of, not really, pre kishins all the time :p And with the Black Blood, can ya really say it was her doing the killing? :p And yes, how could I do that to poor Scythey Boy *Blair Perv Grin* Cause I'm awesome. And if you've read the chapter until it's end, you'll probably be throwing me angry glances once again asking "Why do you do this!" or something like that. P.S. The Phone call answer will be answered soon...jeez -_-


	7. Chapter 7

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 7**

* * *

><p>One by one, glass tubes filled with toxic fluids hit the floor, shattering and spilling beneath the feet of young adolescents. The irritating fumes were quickly caught up into the school's filter and recycled into clean air while glass remained on the floor, waiting for an innocent bare foot to step on it and stain the clean floors. Although the room was in danger just seconds previous, a sense of fear struck the hearts of the surprised students when a flying scalpel flew by their noses and stuck itself in the hinges of the door that was both their entrance and exit. Silence was now the assignment and any opposers were sure to be struck down by the man known as The Best Meister in History. Each student, scared half to death, sat in their respective seats as they awaited their teacher's next move. A loud creak from his trademarked stitched chair echoed about, but they all knew better than to make any sudden movements. A puff of smoke and a spin around back to the board removed any and all tension in the room. The class aired out a synced sigh of relief as the threat was gone. Phase 'Sneak out of psychotic professor's class' completed.<p>

Shrouded in the shadows, the girl was finally able to let out the breath she'd been holding in. She was tempted to just fall to the floor and make a dead on sprint towards her goal, but that would mean running the risks of being caught out of i_his_/i class. So she reluctantly stuck to the air ducts. It was hotter inside the air vents than she had anticipated considering it was suppose to cool the entire school. Even her tiny frame took up most of the space that eventually reduced her to an army styled crawl.

Taking the long way was beginning to look like a bad idea since she couldn't accurately gauge just how far the end was from up above. She had to take the chance, that's what her gut instincts told her.

_Well, here we go._With a big enough supply of air inhaled, the ninja-in-training kicked down a panel and jumped back down to the floor. She surveyed the hall for anything out of place, any students or teachers that may or may not have been wandering around. It's true that she didn't have to keep everything a secret, but a smart man once told her that she should always work her hardest and make the most of every situation. And if that meant turning a stroll from her class to the infirmary into basic training, then so be it.

Her tiny frame made it a breeze to glide across the floors. She made sure not to catch her foot in any cracks between the tile or make any out of place sounds. There was always someone watching, but the job of an assassin was to be just another fly on the wall, unnoticeable. She closed her eyes and let her other senses be her guide. For a moment she thought it was weird that she was picking up all her Master's old training habits, but quickly flicked that silly idea aside. Master was of course He-who-surpassed-God.

Day and night he would interrupt her daily school schedule no matter the situation, whether it be an important test or just a much needed break, he wouldn't let her slack off. So when she successfully infiltrated the infirmary without pulling any unwanted attention unto herself, the little girl silently. Although, her smile slowly faded when she laid eyes upon the body of said person who'd been mentoring her for the past 6 months. It was hard to believe that just a few weeks ago this woman was who was so fragile looking, was bossing her around and helping her mature into a fine meister. Despair overtook the young meister as she hesitated to reach out for her friend's hand. It was just too much at the moment. Up till this point, everyone had held her back from visiting Maka for the simple fact that they didn't want her to see the Three Star Meister in such a condition. And she's held off for as long as she could, but when she knew that her Master was swinging by from his vacation, she just couldn't miss the chance.

She'd killed many on her way to collecting 40 Kishin Souls, but the feeling of a dying human body was something she couldn't quite grasp. It was all too real, it had to be some sort of sick joke. But alas, the strange electric sensation the meister received from just brushing her hand over the girl's arm told another story. The young ninja was having too hard of a time registering what was happening, her body begged for the physical contact she used to receive on a daily basis from her mentor, be it by a pound of their fists or a book to her head, something, anything. She pushed past her mental block and extended her arm out further. The warm feeling was nice, but it wasn't what she expected. The sudden grip around her wrist froze the ninja's entire body. Using her peripherals, albeit pointless, she already knew who it was, the only person who could possibly know she was in the room. His grip tightened around her small arm as a silent note to reveal herself to the group.

_Damn it! How does he do that!_

"You did you good, but even without Soul Perception you gave yourself away. The moment you entered the infirmary the temperature changed." She sighed in defeat, there was just no pleasing this guy.

"There's that, and that God awful perfume you're wearing. Jeez, what the hell is that crap? It's way too strong. Just who are you trying to attract Angela?"

The witch pulled her arm from his grip and pouted his way. How dare he insult her tastes in perfume.

"Well for your information, Maka's the one who's been helping me out since you left with Tsubaki. And not only has she been teaching me other ways to fight, but she's been helping me groom myself since I can't trust Kim with that cause she'll just charge me for every tip she'd try to give me. So next time you deci-"

"Yeah yeah, just be quiet alright. You might not have noticed it, but your boss is right over there with his weapons." Black*Star motioned to Kidd, Liz and Patty. "And Maka's old man is surprisingly relaxed for the moment. And what have I taught you since day one? What are the rules of an assassin?

"Assassin's Rule Number One, Dissolve into the darkness and erase your breath. Wait for an opening to attack your target. Assassin's Ru-"

"Stop there. Dissolve into the darkness. I caught you in the light of all places. That right there should tell you how much you just failed your mission. Go and a grab a seat on the wall and pray that Sid doesn't find out about this. Cause he's going to give me an earful for your screw ups. And if I get yelled at, I'm not only going to yell at you, I'm going to work you until you're on the brink of starvation. Now go."

Black*Star pushed his pupil towards the wall and followed Angela as soon as Tsubaki was back into her Human form.

"Ya know, you didn't have to be so hard on her. She's not you Black*Star." She whispered to her meister as she leaned into him for support.

"I know. But she can take it. I wouldn't be so hard on her if I knew she couldn't. But I'm really hating that perfume she's using. Just what the hell is that crap?"

"I believe it's a rosemary fragrance. I think it's quite nice."

"Yeah well, ninja's don't need to smell good like that, they just need to complete their missions." He would berate how she smelled, but wasn't feeling up to scolding Angela on her attire. Although, assassin's _definitely_ didn't wear bright colors or short cut jeans that barely covered her up. At least she remembered to tie her hair back in a ponytail. She couldn't let her hair get in the way during a mission.

The Dark Arms Meister tilted his head over towards the shorter ninja and whispered, "You get a B for now. You can work on getting that up later on. Just stay quiet for now. The only thing we can do for now is wait. It's all up to him now."

_~!~_

Divine punishment. That's definitely what this had to be. Some sort of magic trick that was going to explode in her face, she was prepared for anything along the lines of something out of a children's book. Maybe he would dissolve into millions of tiny spiders and crawl all over her skin. Or maybe thousands of spiders would burst through his skin and blood would fly all over her face, that might just pull her out from this bad dream. Because the person sitting down in front of her with a head of snow, those demonic crimson eyes, and that shit faced grin that seemed too natural, that person couldn't be real.

One one hand, she was more than just excited that she was able to see him again, but the other half told her that this was only temporary. That's how it usually was in the supernatural stories she read. The widow falls so low that she actually sees the ghost of her past. But when she finally rounds up the courage to reach for her ex-lover, he begins to drift off into the nothingness from whence he came. The widow would then fall into a teary eyed sleep and put a fake smile for the rest of her days because of that moment, but on the inside, her heart is literally tearing itself to pieces trying to keep up with all the stress.

Maka chose to stray from that horrid path, though she was probably going to spend the rest of eternity locked in this prison of darkness anyways. Instead she chose to stick to talking, though she wasn't the best with that. She's tried to start multiple conversations since he came through the door that lead to the endless abyss that should have been _his _mind, but nothing more than a "hi", or a "how've you been?".

The awkward silence between the two was so unlike them, Maka found it hard to believe that at one point they were a couple. They couldn't even speak properly to each other! But how could she? How was she supposed to say sorry? Dammit! This was like a norm for her! She fucks up and apologizes to him and they kick kishin ass! Why couldn't she just say two simple words?

"M..Maka." Her body tensed up. For the first time in ever, she was scared of Soul. She put him through so much pain while he was alive, and she didn't have the decency to let him ascend to the afterlife with a proper goodbye? What kind of person was she turning into? Killing innocent people, selling her body to a leach, and no this! Who was this person? Definitely not the Three Star Meister, The Angel of Death, Maka Fucking Albarn!

Maka Albarn was a strong, independent woman who could fend for herself. She was someone you could always look to for a helping hand. Maka always had her friends' back and was always thinking of others before herself. No one was ever left behind if she ever had a say in it. Not even the unsalvageable. Not even the Ultimate evil was given the cold shoulder of being misjudged by the Grigori. That was Maka Albarn! Not some prissy little cry baby who begged for help when shit hit the fan and all hell broke loose.

With steam almost coming from her ears, Maka clenched her fists and tightly shut her eyes.

"I'm sorry! I'm so so sorry Soul! I'm so stupid, I'm sorry! Damn it I'm sorry!" Her eyes begun to well up. "I...Can you ever forgive me, please?" _I love you._Maka kept her eyes closed, ashamed to even look back at him. She was still the same weak little girl who could never protect her weapon.

"Pfft... Ha ha. Oh damn. Who are you and what have you done to my Meister?" Soul cackled.

Not quite the reaction she expected, but not exactly bad, right? Right?

"I don't remember Maka ever being a crybaby? Whatever happened to my super cool Meister who never gave two shits about what anyone ever thought of her? Huh? My Maka was a bad-ass with a book in her hand. But all I see in front of me now is someone who hasn't seen the light in far too long. My Maka, never judged a book by it's cover, she was always able to see the good in others, even if no one else could. My Maka was an angel." Soul stood up and took a breath before continuing. And out of strictly curiosity of what his mind was capable of, stomped the floor beneath him with one foot.

"Ah! Oh! What the-what the hell?" Maka squirmed about as she was lifted up to about eye level with Soul, by a chair that came out of nowhere.

"Heh, didn't think that would work. But look at you now? I'm guessing you can't walk very well at the moment, and I was getting tired of sitting on the floor. So with this being my home and all, well, anything is possible."

Home. He called it his home. She made a clear note of that small detail. She'd never heard him call it anything but 'The Black Room' or 'Our Place' So he was dead, and his soul was just lingering here until it could move on. Maka frowned at the thought of Soul not being able to go to Heaven or have a peaceful afterlife or whatever happened when you died. It just piled on more guilt on top of what she already felt.

Maka fidgeted in her seat from discomfort. Soul's face was just inches from her own, so close that they were practically kissing without locking lips.

"You're acting really strange, Maka? What's going on? You said earlier that you were sorry, what for? What do you have to be sorry for?"

"Wh-"

"If anyone should be sorry, it should be me." Soul quickly turned until his back was to Maka. He knew that whatever she was dealing with wasn't even on the radar of the guilt he felt.

"Soul?" His meister whimpered.

"I always preached about how I wouldn't let any harm come your way, that I would die for my meister without hesitation. And I-"

"I was jealous of Black*Star and Tsubaki!" Maka quickly interrupted. Whatever he was getting off his chest would have to wait. She had to let everything out, let him know why she was so reckless and just out of sync on that night.

"I...I was jealous that they were so openly romantic with each other, and we were just on the sidelines acting like an arguing old couple all the time. I wanted what they had. They have a family and...and I just, I wanted you to be someone you weren't. I'm sorry Soul! I was too reckless and angry and I wasn't thinking clearly. And I got you hurt!" Maka lowered her head, unable to make eye contact. "I got you killed.I didn't mean for any of that to happen. I've missed you so much Soul. I don't know how to live without you. I've tried to! I've tried really hard, but I just can't do it anymore."

"I want to, I want to do everything we used to together. I don't care about having kids, I just wanna wake up every morning and see your messy hair in my face. I wanna complain about you drinking the milk straight out of the carton. I wanna go on missions together like we used to do. I wanna do everything with you, Soul. I don't care how long it takes, just as long as it's with you. I don't need anyone else. Even if I have to sell my body to _that _demon, then so be it."

"Wh..what do you mean, sell your body, Maka? Why would ever consider doing something so stupid like that? And what are you talking about? You wanted what they had? Why can't we have those things? Why can't we still be like that? If it'll keep you from feeling any sort of insecurity ever again, then I'll change myself. We can be more open about ourselves, in fact we can do anything we want! There's nothing in this world that can stop us from doing what we want! Not Black*Star, not Kidd, not even your mom or dad! We can be who we wanna be! And we-"

The music stopped. The candles went out. And the doors of his mind suddenly swung open revealing the demonic figure that always looked for an opportunity to strike. And he was looking at a very vulnerable Soul Evans with endearing crimson eyes.

"You! What are you doing back in here?" Soul growled. "You have no say in this conversation. So leave! Before I cut you off, permanently." As was the usual, the demon took his hosts threats with little to no worry at all. He knew how much a part of Soul he really was. An empty threat like that was music to his ears, a sign of fear in the young Evans boy.

"Tch, like I care about what you humans speak of. Love? BAH! What a bunch of lies. These _feelings, _you say you have, what a bunch of third rate trash!"

"Hmph." Maka scoffed, turning her attention back to Soul, who couldn't stop glaring daggers back at the imp. S-Soul?"

"You talk of wanting to spend a lifetime with this weak, pathetic, _Angel_. But she doesn't even see you as a man! She doesn't respect you! She doesn't trust your strength! Don't forget her desperate attempts to kill that pre-kishin. She so desperately wanted to prove to you that she's something she's not! She's not an angel! That brat is a WEAK! PATHETIC! P-"

Before he knew it the demon was gasping for artificial air while Soul held him up by his throat.

"Don't you EVER, say anything about Maka again! What makes you think you're such a big enough guy that you even has a say in any of this? You're lower than a pile of dog shit. You're nothing. You're just an extra source of power that I allow to inhabit my body. If I wanted to I could have had you stripped from my body long ago! You're lucky to still have a home in this world. Be grateful for what you have, worthless _scum_!" Soul finished this one sided fight and threw the grumbling imp back to his little corner.

"Grrr. Stupid boy. '_Be grateful for what you have' _you say, yet you clearly are not relishing in everything in your own world. You two have been bickering about changing each other, claiming to have loved each other for years now, but what have you to show of it? You are nothing without me _boy_! Don't forget that I am the only reason you still breathe. I am the power that feeds your soul the juices of life. And don't you forget, this body is as much mine, as it is yours."

The demon left the two to themselves and the candles burst back to life, the raggedy music flipped a switch and played the usual skipping tune they both knew so well. They were alone once again, but the atmosphere was much too tense for what he planned on saying. He would have to wait for another time. Soul needed to get her out of there already, he was taking too much of a risk keeping Maka in the Black Room for so long. He's put everyone through enough just trying to get her this far, when all they really needed, was Black*Star and his obviously inhuman self.

So Soul regained his composure and turned back to face Maka. She looked terrified if anything. It was probably the rare outburst from her weapon that put that puppy dog face on the Grigori. Maka couldn't recall any point in their time together where they had such an argument. And she was thankful for that. Any and all arguments were about petty crap, usually about chores around their small two bedroom apartment.

But that look terrified Soul more than Maka could ever know. He was literally five minutes ago just preaching to her about how he never wanted to see her cry. Soul was really starting to lose his cool and beginning to forget the whole reason behind everything he'd been doing. He needed to speed things up, there was no telling how much longer Maka would be able to stay in this realm.

Soul dropped to a knee and sent a signal to his mind that lowered the stool in which his hopeful bride to be sat comfortably on.

"Look, Maka. I don't know what you have anything to be sorry for, but I know that I fucked up and there's only one way I know how to remedy it. I'm your weapon, and I let you down in the worst possible way. I failed as your partner. And I want to make it up to you."

Soul stared deep into those forest green orbs that never failed to entrance him and knew what he wanted more than anything in the world. He extended his arm out towards the pigtailed meister and promptly stood back on his own two feet.

"Maka, I couldn't imagine this world without you. If anything ever happened to you, I don't know what I would do with myself. I-"

"Would sell your soul just to see me again?" She quickly imputed. She knew exactly where he was coming from. She'd like to say she had personal experience in that department, but now she wasn't really sure what the hell was even going on. The last Death only knows how long have been the most nerve racking times of her life. She'd been around enough black blood for a lifetime that the only color she ever wanted to see again, was red.

"Y-yeah? I guess so?" Soul couldn't quite find the words to respond to such a dark and, on spot remark. If he had the choice, he probably would sell his soul for her. Maka was the one of a kind girl whom Soul both admired and feared all in one tiny child-like body.

Even after his cheesy ass proposal, Maka still couldn't find the courage to take his hand. Because this was that moment in every book she's ever read where the ghost disappears. That moment where the widow reaches out towards her deceased loved one, and just as they're about to touch, the ghost passes right through her, leaving her alone once again, to put up a fake smile for the rest of her days. Maka didn't want that. She wanted to be with Soul for the rest of eternity.

Thankfully for Soul, this was in fact _his _mind. And while in The Black Room, no thought gets left unheard. Every doubt she's had since she's entered has been filtered through their resonating wavelength and directly into him. She must have been through some really tough shit to have forgotten such a detail. This was the one place they were always truthful with each other. And that was that. No more lies, no more keeping secrets. Just the truth.

"Maka. I promise that for as long I live, I will never leave your side. Just, come with me, and we'll figure the rest out later." And now he had both of his hands jutting out towards her, waiting for his better half to free him of his guilt.

Again Maka fidgeted in her seat, unable to feel her lower half, still wondering why that was. But feeling more apprehensive than before. If he was to disappear right here in front of her, forever, would she be able to move on? But she won't ever know that answer because the warmth of his hands around hers was the reassuring feeling that told her everything was going to be alright.

"M-Maka!" Soul quickly pulled Maka into his arms. Maybe her not being able to walk wasn't such a bad thing. "My super stupid, super cool meister. You don't ever change, do you?" Soul grinned cockily down at _his_ Maka.

"Hehe. Nope!" And for the first time in ever, Maka smiled without having to fake it or feel any sort of guilt or resentment. If this was how it all ended, she was perfectly ok with that.

And like an unspoken rule of The Black Room, the world around them begun to fade out until they were the only visible objects left.

"Good. Cause that ain't cool." And _I love you too, Maka.  
><em>

And like pictures on a wall, they were gone.

* * *

><p>AN: Errmm...sorry for the wait? _ Well...yeah...Fluff :D I delivered on not leaving it depressing and shit!

_*God only knows when the next update will come. I only get time to write on the weekends. And even that's limited time.*_


	8. Chapter 8

**Keys Of Insanity - Chapter 8**

Was it real? It was...sort of blinding, but warm. It might have been another twisted form of her reality. It shouldn't have surprised her this much, but for the first time in the longest, light had finally cut it's way through the darkness that taunted her existence. Migraines, one after another fought her the whole through while fighting the luminance in an attempt to see what was real with her two eyes.

She'd never admit it to herself, but Maka always found it interesting the shady places she found herself waking up in after letting go of her sanity for a night or two. Her head pounded as she cringed at just how bright it was. Did she fall asleep outside again? It never pained her as much as it did at this moment to open her eyes. What was so different about today? As was her life, she should have been used to it by now.

"Professor, come quick! I think...I think she's waking up!" Liz alerted.

_L...Liz? Was that...no...it couldn't._

"Maka!? Maka! My baby girl! Wake up! Maka! Please wake up!" Spirit was always quick on his feet, even faster when his daughter was involved.

_Papa? What's Papa doing here? There's no way they found me. Impossible! I hid my soul perfectly. I went under the radar! How did they find me? Where the hell am I anyways?_

"Move over Spirit. Give her some room to breathe." Stein cleared the area around the bed. Not a sound could be heard as the moments passed in waiting while Marie checked Maka' pulse.

_Professor too! Dammit Maka! Where the hell did you go this time? What the hell! This wasn't supposed to happen! We were separated by an Ocean! How did they track me down?_

"Come on Maka. Please wake up." Soul squeezed her hand tighter, hoping his plea was getting through to her.

_Soul!? Is...no...it's impossible..._ Maka told herself. She saw it with her own two eyes. This had to be the worst nightmare ever. This sort of situation was impossible. She knew that for certain. She would just have to wait it out until she woke up. That's the only realistic thing she could do.

"Maka!? Maka are you awake? Maka please answer your Papa!" Spirit screamed as she heard his loud footsteps pound against the floor until a shiver ran up her spine. The light tingling feeling on her right side lingered about for a moment before fading away. These demons were trying hard this time.

"P...pa...?" Maka knew well by now that she shouldn't interact with other beings in her dreams. More often than not she awoke to at least one bloody pool beneath her feet. Seeing as how this one was mimicking her Papa she would take no risks. She tightly sealed her lips and told herself that she had to ride this one out no matter how tempting it might become.

"Maka? Yes Maka it's me! It's your Papa! I'm right here! Just open your eyes please. Please Maka! All your friends are here waiting for you." Pleaded the Spirit doppelganger.

She felt cold, colder than usual. Not physically, though that was something she should solve. More so she could feel her heart begin to shatter while listening to her Papa begging for a response. It hurt more than she could describe not being able to respond. Dream, Nightmare, reality, whichever it might be, that was still her Papa out there.

There was little sensation her nerves chose to feel. Neither her legs nor her arms were responding. Sight. She was still torn. But the small bit of warmth over towards her right hand was comforting.

_This one is stranger than usual. Most of the time it's lucid and I can freely control everything I do. But why can't I even feel my lower half? I can scarcely feel my fingers. But I can still feel them. I can't even curl my toes. It's like they're not even there._

Maka made one more attempt at moving her lower digits, but it was no use. It's like they were non-existent, like she was just an upper body.

_I feel so weak. What's wrong with me in this one? I can barely feel anything at all. Why? I don't remember doing or seeing anything that would trigger this strange circumstance. So why? The last thing I remember was being in The Black Room with Soul. That was probably daydreaming though. That couldn't have been real._

Maka convinced herself of these things to be the truths of her reality. It was the only way she could keep herself kicking to hopefully one day to take a hold of her last dream.

_Everything's starting to hurt again. I don't think I could open my eyes even if I wanted to at this point. It feels like my body's on fire. It's like I'm holding candles on my hands. But the one on my left is a bit hotter. It's like...Agh!_

Once again the firestorm of migraines pillaged her thoughts from becoming whole. This nightmare was a different kind of frightening from the usual. This one was in a different category of sadistic. Most of the time Maka was the one delivering Death's Wish upon the innocents, not the other way around.

Maybe this was finally it. This was a sign of change. The life she'd known was about to change, whether it be good or bad, Maka knew it wouldn't be long before reality showed it's ugly face to her once more. She'd bet the clothes on her back, if there were any at the moment, that she wasn't going to like this change.

She knew that because whenever he conscious began to fade like it was now, good things never happened.

"Maka! Maka wake up! Wake up Maka! Please! Don't go..."

_I'm sorry Soul. I'm so sorry. I'm really sorry._

_~!~_

"Hehehehe! Hahahahaha! EHAHAHAHAHA! This is just wonderful! Amazing! Spectacular! I never could have imagined this outcome! This is too perfect! Bravo! Bravo you two!" Cackled the demon while holding his arm steady. It reveled at the sight of spilt blood. This situation was like heaven to it.

No longer had it escaped from its cage was it having the time of its life making a mess of the one's who'd held it captive.

It was ready to turn the show into a full on circus as it put more pressure into its attack. The Black*Star look-a-like had begun to lose its solid form. The blade that struck past Soul's own and pierced his Meister's skin was beginning to lose its edge.

"S..so..." It hurt to open her mouth, let alone speak. This was a new kind of pain. Maka's eye shot down to her lower abdomen where the pain was at its peak.

_Damn this hurts! How the hell did it even get through our defenses? I swear I lined Soul up where he was striking. How did it do that? Shit. It's still in. If I take it out I'll bleed out. But if I leave it in..._

That was when Maka began to notice her body's inability to respond.

Shit! _Just what the hell is going on here? I...I can't move my arms. My legs feel like jello and it...it fucking hurts!_

"Maka! Shit! Shit shit shit! Maka! We have to get that thing out of you now!" Soul pleaded from his weapon form.

"Kukukuku. Oh this is just splendid! Whatever will you do now? Save the girl?"

Soul never thought he would see a grin like that again. The way he twisted and turned his head around and flashed his fangs could rival that of Medusa's.

And no longer was it holding onto their friend's bodies. If Soul had to say, it looked closer to one of those freak ass clowns born from the madness of Asura from way back when.

"Or are you going to die right here with her?!" Its voice became more hoarse as it made the transition to its purest form, Madness. It's back arched out while it's arms became elongated with sharp digits.

With the black blade still stuck in Maka, Soul had to act quickly. Without a second thought her transformed back into his human form and cut the handle from the demon and left the blade stuck in his meister. He knew if he took it out he'd lose her right there.

"Fuck you! I'll kill you right here and save her! You think you're going to stop us here? Right now? You don't have any fucking clue who you're messing with, do you?" Soul stared the monster down with arms spread out in front of Maka.

All the while Maka couldn't move a muscle while she watched her weapon go up against the beast on it's own. She couldn't even connect her wavelength with his as she was.

_Shit. What the hell is wrong with me. I can't move even a muscle. This is ridiculous. What about my wavelength? This is black blood! I'm sure of it! So why isn't my Anti-Demon Wavelength doing anything about it? Shit!_

"So..uh.." Was all she could get out before coughing up a mess of blood.

"Maka!" Soul turned his head around and was faced with one of his worst nightmares. But before he could do much about it he had to get away from the enemy. He barely dodged that last attack to his face and he wasn't faring much better with the body strikes. Soul was barely able to get a transformed limb in the way before the enemy thrust in another direction.

_Shit. I have to end this quickly. Maka isn't looking too hot. I gotta get her out of here quickly. But I can't just let this thing run around like it is now. Shi-it. But...FUCK!_

With one last powerful slash, Soul forced the demon away, taking off an arm in the process. Wasting no time, Sou sprinted to Maka's side and shook her furiously.

"Come on Maka! We have to go! We have to get you of here now!" But then he caught a glimpse of her eyes.

_Soul? Is that you Soul? I can't hear you very well anymore. Are you not screaming like I see you are? Are my eyes playing tricks on me? Or are my eyes the ones that aren't working?_

"Maka! Can you hear me in there? Hello! Earth to Maka!" Soul screamed once more.

_Shit. This isn't good. It's like she's not even here anymore. I gotta get her outta of here before he decides to attack again. But how the hell am I gonna stop him from following us? There's no way I can stop him on my own. I can't use Demon Hunter without Maka._

"Fuck! I'm so useless right now! Damnit I hope you can forgive me for this Maka, but there's no other choice but to try this." He knew the chances of forcing a resonance from his end wasn't going to be easy, but he had to do something before he got them killed.

"Alright, Maka. You're going to have to trust me on this one. I know I've never tried this before. But if I don't do it now, we're going to die." Soul reached for her arm that hung low to the ground without any tension at all. It felt cold, barring it was cold outside either way, whenever they held hands there was usually a warm, a sort of fiery sort of feeling that surged through his body.

The fact that he wasn't feeling that told him that something was more than just wrong with her physically.

"Shit. Maka? Hey! Hey Maka?" He took a hold of her body again and shook. She didn't resist, she didn't move, she didn't so much as bat an eye.

"Maka? Maka! Wake up Maka! Wake up!" His screams quickly turned to pleads as he didn't want to think of what was happening to his meister.

Through his peripherals Soul caught a glimpse of the monster rushing back towards them. Soul quickly through himself back in front of his meister with his blades crossing his chest and his legs planted firmly in the ground.

"Don't you dare come close to her unless you've got a death wish" Soul's eyes narrowed as he readied himself for a full out frontal attack.

Much to his surprise as the thing sped towards him it's body became thinner and thinner. He attempted a sweeping slash at it but it was no use. There was little no resistance. It simply liquidated as soon as contact was made and flew behind him.

"Kukuku. Poor Soul Eater. Poor poor Soul Eater. You had one job! You couldn't do the one thing you've ever wanted to do. How pathetic! You're useless! What a good-for-nothing! Weak! You are weak Soul Eater! And that is all you will ever be as long as I exist! For as long as there is weakness in your hearts, you will never beat me. And as long as you think you're unbeatable, well, let's just say that this will be the best game of tug-o-war ever played! I hope you're up for it Soul Eater! Because her life is on the line! I would start running if I was you!"

Soon as the demon's voice died down Soul heard a loud thud from behind. It was his worst nightmare coming true. It was like nothing else in the world existed anymore. The wind was silent as the dead of night. Crickets weren't chirping nor were the broken street lights flickering anymore.

Nothing else mattered besides the fact that Maka was lying on the cold hard ground with her eyes shut in a pool of black and red blood. Soul didn't have time to figure what was wrong, the only way he knew how to react was to try performing CPR on her.

"No Maka! No! You can't do this to me now! No dammit! You're not allowed to kick the bucket before I do! You're not fucking allowed to do this shit to me Maka!" Soul reached 30 pumps on her chest and reached for lips. He blew in two large breaths of air before coughing up what she was spitting back up at him.

It was worse than he thought. That kishin did something to her. Her body wasn't repelling the black blood as well as it should be. There was too much of it still in her. He had to get it out before he lost her for good.

"Wake up Maka! God dammit you gotta wake up! Dammit wake the fuck up already!" He gave her two more breaths of air, but still nothing. She barely had a heartbeat and was quickly losing ground.

"God dammit where is everyone? Someone? Why isn't there anyone out here? Come on! Someone! Anyone! Hello! Someone! We need help! Please! HELP!"

No one responded. There wasn't another soul for miles. Soul waited for no more than thirty seconds before he gave up on someone rescuing them. He had to take things into his own hands.

He stripped himself of his jacket and wrapped it around Maka's seemingly lifeless body and picked her up bridal style. He had to get her to the school as quickly as possible.

"Shit you're heavy Maka. But don't worry. I'll get you to the doctor soon. Don't you dare even think that I'm going to let you die on me. You're not allowed to die before me Maka. I'm your weapon! I'm supposed to protect you, that means I'm willing to put my life on the line for you! You got that?!"

With all the strength he had left in his body, Soul pushed himself further and further up Death Lane. If he kept his steps light enough he could make out her breathing, if ever so lightly. His heart pounded harder and harder, fighting to burst from his chest while hers was trying to collapse inward. He couldn't believe this was happening. How did a romantic date night turn to this?

"God dammit! FUCK! IS THERE ANYBODY OUT THERE!? I NEED YOUR HELP!" Soul screamed at the top of his lungs. There wasn't much left he could do. He had to hope that someone heard him. There was no way in hell he was climbing up the staircase to the school on his own while holding her up. But he wasn't going to give up just yet! She would never give up on him. He wasn't about to do the same now.

Soul pushed on and just a short minute later did he reach the stairs. With every step he took it felt like the weight of the world was shoving more and more responsibilities on top of him.

It was turning out quite like he imagined. Running up the steps in leaps of 3's and making his way quickly up the staircase from hell at Mach reality of it all was more or less frightening. He was losing steam faster than he imagined and Maka was looking worse and worse as the seconds passed.

"Shit! This isn't cool! Not fucking cool dude! This can't be happening right now! I swear on my life I will not let you fucking die right here! You here that Maka?! Do you hear me?! Don't you dare die on me alright? So wake up Maka! Wake up!"

_~!~_

The migraines were back. And oh were they holding no punches. It felt like a small army of ants were making their home in her head.

"God damn my head hurts." Maka announced to no one in particular. Little did she know. Not a moment later did she hear a room of gasps and squeals of joy.

"Maka? Maka! My baby girl you're awake! My baby girl! You've finally come back to me!" Now, Spirit Albarn was never one to be shy about his feelings towards his family, given the situation, he wasn't going to stop now.

He lunged from his chair and wrapped his arms around her neck and cried into her pillow.

"My...my baby girl! I thought I lost you for good. I'm so happy."

What was she supposed to say to that? Hey I'm sorry I ran away, but I couldn't control myself?

She didn't think that was going to quite cut it. Whether this be another nightmare or not, she couldn't keep ignoring her Papa. He had this weird aura about him that drew others to him. She couldn't resist what she said next.

Maka opened her eyes and much to her surprise, the number of people surrounding her was more than she could count on her hands. How?! Just...how?

Was this that same nightmare from before? This was exactly what she feared the last time. Seeing everyone she everyone she ever cared about and loved. There wasn't a piece of Spartoi missing from this picture. Along with them was Angela, Marie, Sid and Nygus, and of course the doctor and her Papa.

It only pained her more the fact that they were smiling at her while all she could do was sit there and mope like the world had just ended. She didn't consider her life worth much of anything with the most important piece of her missing. What was a meister without a weapon anyways? She was just an average Joe without him. There was no denying that. They grew strong over the years, but only together was any of it possible.

"Papa." Maka mumbled. All the enthusiasm that was brimming to come out, had gone and faded away.

After wiping his tears with his sleeves, Spirit picked himself up to face his daughter eye-to-eye.

"Yes Maka?" Right away he noticed something was wrong. That distant look in her eye said more than enough.

"What's wrong sweetie? Papa's right here. Everything's going to be alright. I promise. Papa won't let anymore kishin hurt you." Spirit assured, but that apparently wasn't what was bothering her.

And even if this was just another nightmare, she had to let it out. Because they were just going to get worse if she wasn't more open about it. And although she accepted it long ago, the topic was still taboo.

"No...no it won't Papa. It won't be alright. It won't ever be alright. It's my fault Papa." Maka swallowed a lump in her throat before sniffling as tears threatened to break out. But Maka promised herself when she started this personal mission. No tears.

"Maka. What's your fault? The condition you're in? If anything it's that Octopus head's fault over there. Dumbass shoulda prote-"

"Octopus head?! Over where? Papa. Where's Soul?"

_Death forgive me. I hope this isn't some sort of sick joke. Please don't let it be. Please don't let this be real._

Not a moment had her thoughts wandered did he make his presence known. If only she'd been able to turn her head Maka would have seen him sitting by her side the entire time. He cupped her hands around his own and took a deep breathe.

"Maka..." Their eyes met and it was like someone flicked the sands of time back a few years.

He looked exactly how she last remembered him, besides the ugly looking facial hair he really needed to get rid of. And those bags under his eyes. That wasn't new, but it looked worse than she remembered. At least his hair was the same. Yeah, she could deal with this. This was enough.

"Soul!" Thankfully he lunged her way because she couldn't wait to share in his warmth once again. It seemed like forever had passed since she began her journey and now she could finally breathe easy, for her journey had come to end.

"I'm here Maka. I'm right here." Soul sat himself at the side of her bed and caught her gaze back at him. They were never the best couple when it came to words. Silence was their niche. They nodded and smiled to each other in unison.

"I...I'm sorry Soul. I just missed you too much."

"What are you sorry for? I'm the one who should be apologizing. You wouldn't be in this mess if I was stronger."

"You're damn right it's your fault you little shit. If you hadn't-"

"Papa!...Please." Maka shouted in a commanding voice.

"Yes ma'am."

"And don't worry Soul. It doesn't matter anymore. We're together again, that's all I ever wanted. I'm just sorry I wasted so much time. I just tried to get to know you better before we met again. That's all."

"Huh?"

"And I know you guys are just a part of my imagination. This is probably what Heaven looks like for me. Heh. I guess I didn't really deserve better than being bedridden." It was nearly impossible for the group to read her innocent smile. For the most part it was her go to face when mixed with sarcasm. But this topic was really no joking matter.

Everyone turned to look at their neighbor in utter confusion. Nothing Maka was saying was making any sense.

The room was filled with silence until Black*Star felt the need to speak up. He approached the edge of her bed and laid his hands on her stiff legs.

"Hey, Maka. Where do you think you are right now?"

Maka cocked her head and gave her old friend a funny look. Oh how she missed him. He really got on her nerves most of the time, but she appreciated their friendship more than she'd ever admit.

"Ha. What are you talking about Black*Star. I'm in Heaven. I'm dead obviously.

Black*Star wasn't quite sure how to respond to that. He looked back at his partner and pointed to himself.

"Hey Tsubaki. Did I?" She shook her head. "Oh good. Scared me there for a minute. Alright Maka. Well I know I'm not dead. So that means you're not dead either. Now that that's settled w-"

"What? Haha. Jokes as usual. Just like I remembered. It's okay Black*Star. I'm ready for this. I've been ready. You don't have to lie for my sake."

"Maka."

"Yes Professor? What is it?"

"Wait. I should tell her. It's my fault anyways." Soul intruded. He narrowed his eyes and mentally prepared himself for a chop to the head.

"What I'm about to tell you, Maka, it might surprise you. The truth is...well...what happened was...um...you see..."

"Dangit it Soul, spit it out. What's the big deal?" God damn he couldn't take that smile of hers. How could she do something like that to him. He was the guilty one.

"Umm..well, you see...you're...you're actually..."

"I'm actually what Soul? Jeez. You're acting like someone died. Haha. I'm sorry." Maka joked. Maybe it was too soon to be joking about it like that? She couldn't tell from their reactions. Everyone seemed on edge after her last comment.

"Not funny Maka. You almost did die. If it wasn't for that psycho with the screw in his head, you would be." Soul pointed out. He placed his hand over her stomach where her stitches were and cringed.

_This must feel like what Maka felt when Crona almost killed me. Shit. You fucked up real bad Soul._

"I'm sorry? Soul. You still haven't told me what's going on." Maka inquired, snapping him out of his daze.

"Oh...right. Sorry. You see...the thing is..." Before Soul could say the words the Professor pushed him away and brought his paper clip up to his face and flipped through a few papers.

"Maka, due to the sudden influx of black blood into your system, if you hadn't woken up, tomorrow would mark two weeks that you'd have been comatose.

* * *

><p>AN: So sorry about this abnormally long wait. School, stress. 'Nuff Said. Hope this at least clears some confusion up. I tried. :)

**GoddessOfNight08** - Unconfused now? ^_^ I hope. :)

**Sailor Saiyan007** - I only do these things because you love it :)

**Son Goshen - **I'm so glad you liked it so far up to this point, and I really hope you liked this chapter too. I'm sorry for all the confusion XD, glad you know what was going on though :P If you did, congrats Shen :D

**Moonlight M3lody - **Well Moonlight I'm glad you decided to start following, and I'm also sorry for not updating in so long. I really am. I'm glad you enjoyed the Black*Star bits. He's my favourite character, but he's so hard for me to write! He's just so hard to understand sometimes :( But I'm happy you liked it. About the time frame. No one really asked before, that I can remember (I'm too lazy to see if anyone did). But I always thought of the group just breaking into their 20's. Years after Asura :) And it's ok you can't tell how much you like the plot...I kind of didn't know what it was for a while. But I figured it out ;) Stick around for the ride and see it unfold.

Again sorry for the long wait between updates XD Don't shoot me please. Life is tough at the moment.


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